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Career Center to organize Drug Free Club

LISBON –High school students from the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center will soon be able to add drug free to their resumes when they look for a job by successfully joining and completing the program of the Drug Free Clubs of America — CCCTC Chapter.

Director/Assistant Superintendent Jeremy Corbisello said the program will be voluntary and non-punitive, but will include drug screenings and education about how important it is for employers to be able to find employees who can pass drug tests.

Corbisello said he will meet with students during the first week of October to talk about the program and give them a chance to volunteer for membership in the organization.

To him the benefits include the membership card, which students can show to their future employers at an interview, college advisers and military recruiters that they have been a part of this program and are drug-free. Students who are members will be included in monthly drawings for gift cards, tools and other incentives.

Corbisello said another benefit will be the excuse students need when confronted by someone offering them drugs to say “I can’t. I’m in the DFC!”

Students will be given a free drug screen when they join the program in October. Then throughout the year, 5 percent of the students in the program will be randomly selected to be tested again. Students in the program will not know if or when they may be tested again, which should help deter them from using drugs throughout the year.

Corbisello said two administrators will be helping and a couple of nurses from the adult program will be involved in collecting the samples from the students. The results from the samples will not be shared that day and will not be known by the school officials. Corbisello and those administering the program at the CCCTC will only have a list of the students currently enrolled in the club.

If a student fails, a medical professional from the Drug Free Clubs of America will contact the student’s parent to inform them about the test results, give them a chance to provide a prescription for a drug in their system if there is a false positive, and provide parents with resources, counseling and advice about how to help the student deal with addiction issues.

Students who fail a test will no longer be a member of the club.

Corbisello said there has been a lot of interest in the program from the business community and industry, which would like students to realize they will need to be drug free in order to get a job in the future.

Instructor Huck Hughes said the students are very excited about the chance to prove to employers they can pass those drug tests.

djohnson@mojonews.com

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