Erik Jansa, senior, was one of 13 students to be motivated to make a change at HHS. He helped develop the One Reason campaign, an anti-alcohol initiative.

“I hate alcohol. I’ve seen [the presence of alcohol] in my family, and I’ve seen it with some of my closer friends,” said Jansa.

Last spring, DECA advisor Mr. Jesse Theirl, business Education Teacher and ProPEL Advisor, sent an email to HHS DECA participants. The email stated that the students had an opportunity to work with the Hopkins My Voice Foundation and develop an anti-alcohol campaign.

The Hopkins My Voice Foundation created One Reason along with HHS students. Jansa’s passionate voice for the effects of alcohol encouraged him to lead the One Reason campaign and to focus on anti-alcohol in a positive manner.

“You see a lot of anti-alcohol campaigns out there where it’s about the consequences of drinking. We decided to focus [the campaign] on the positives of not drinking,” Jansa said. “My one reason is my future. I would not want to cripple or destroy 17 years of hard work for one night of what someone might call fun.”

Jansa’s dislike of alcohol is what led him to take an interest in the My Voice Foundation and the One Reason campaign. One of the efforts of the campaign which Jansa helped organize was a teaser video, which played during advisory on Monday Nov. 10. The video was filmed at The Depot over the summer.

“I helped recruit people who might be interested in the video and worked with Community Blueprint [a social marketing agency] to market the video,” Jansa said.

However, One Reason’s marketing efforts did not stop there. One Reason implemented an in-school campaign on Thursday, Nov. 13 and Friday Nov 14. In the hallway that leads to the cafeteria, a white booth with draping white fabric enclosed a photographer taking pictures on his camera, along with a woman editing and printing the photos.

The photographer took pictures of students and then asked them their one reason for not using alcohol. Minutes later, students were given a printed version of their photograph captioned with their one reason.

The reason for printing each student’s photo was because One Reason wanted to personalize the campaign. They wanted students to see the photos and recognize their peers.

“The efforts at lunch today were to expand the website from 10 faces to 200-300 faces, so that when a student is scrolling through the website they can click on any of the faces [and see their friend’s one reason],” Jansa said.

In addition to the video, flyers were put up around the school, primarily in the student bathrooms. The flyers focus on the facts related to drinking alcohol. Also, the flyers remind students that less students drink than is perceived.

One Reason takes a positive twist on the reasons for not using alcohol. The black, yellow, and white flyers provide hard facts about alcohol’s dangers. The flyers explain that alcohol is the most commonly used substance in America. Alcohol can lead to unsafe sexual activity, negative effects on a developing brain as well as dependence and addiction later in life use in high school can lead to dependence later in life, unsafe sexual activity, and harm the still developing brain.

“You never hear people say, ‘Oh I didn’t drink this weekend. I had such a fun time not drinking this weekend.’ So, it feels like more people drink than actually do. You only hear about the stories where people drink,” Jansa said.

The same information is displayed on the One Reason website, along with the photos taken of HHS students from their lunches and those from the teaser video. One Reason encourages that all students who are interested in learning more should visit their website, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook.

Watch the Video by clicking on the link below:

http://myonereason.com/