Madison Creek
Elementary School
Goodlettsville, Tennessee
Madison Creek Elementary celebrated Red Ribbon Week in a “sweet way.” The school created a life-size, interactive game called Drug Free Land, modeled after Candy Land. Oversized “candy canes” lined the walkway outside, huge “lollipops” decorated the lawn and a mural of the game hung above the front doors. More than 600 students pledged to stay away from drugs by signing and decorating paper cutouts of gingerbread men, which lined the entryway. Inside, the walls were covered in blue and green paper to resemble the background of Candy Land. Colored posterboard was used for the spaces in the game. Along this path, there were three unhealthy stops and three healthy stops. In each of these areas, students performed skits to teach game players about choices.
The first people to go through the game were judges of a countywide decorating contest. They arrived to find several hundred students, faculty, staff, and parents playing board games
in the parking lot, dressed in red and wearing Positive Promotions stickers. After the judges made their way through Drug Free Land, they ended up in the school’s gym, which had been transformed into Camarena’s Clubhouse. The clubhouse featured red balloons and a Positive Promotions banner. Red and white confetti came raining down, and students sang a song about being drug free. The school won the decorating contest.
