A few Wasatch High students in the Wasatch Center for Advanced Professional Studies, or Wasatch CAPS, program are trying to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol for anyone underage.
Carla Nava, Naomi Hobby and Kasen Ashworth presented their project to the Wasatch County School District Board of Education Tuesday. They partnered with the Wasatch County Health Department, Parents Empowered and Wasatch Aquatics to launch this effort.
The team wants to post decals in the Wasatch Aquatic Center encouraging parents to talk with their children about underage drinking.
Nava said they are trying to reach parents who have children ages 9 to 12.
“This is the age range that kids are developing their perceptions of alcohol,” she said.
The age range is based on the results from the 2023 Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention survey, commonly known as the SHARP survey. The survey is administered every other year. It assesses the readiness of 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders to face tobacco use, underage drinking, school safety, bullying and mental health.
According to Wasatch County’s results, over 55% of 6th graders said their parents did not communicate expectations twice a year about underage drinking. Almost 70% of eighth graders said their parents didn’t communicate alcohol expectations.
“All of this helped us decide that our main message was going to be the importance of setting boundaries with your kids,” Nava said.
Nava said the team recruited R&R Partners to design the decals for the Wasatch Aquatic Center using a Parents Empowered grant.
Ashworth said the designs will be Heber Valley-inspired and may include Spanish translations.
Wasatch County School District board member Breanne Dedrickson said she believes the decals will help curb underage drinking.
“I have kids in that age range, and I love it,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I probably don’t have that conversation as often as I need and this would spark that conversation.’”
A kick-off family event May 3 will showcase the newly installed decals.
