These teens and tweens aren’t down with getting under the influence and want to spread the word.

King County Council Member Reagan Dunn, who represents District 9, awarded a $12,000 grant to the school club Thrive, an Enumclaw Youth Empowered coalition program at the Enumclaw School District.

Thrive was created in January 2023, and so far, they have other chapters at Enumclaw Middle School and Thunder Mountain Middle School as well.

The funding came from Seattle and King County’s Cannabis, Tobacco, and Vaping Prevention community grants.

“I am very pleased that this grant will fund the efforts of Enumclaw students who are helping their friends and peers live free of substance use,” Dunn said in a press release. “We know that teenage substance use correlates with poor mental health, risk of addiction, and difficulty with school. Preventing drug use early on is key to helping kids grow into healthy and happy adults.”

Enumclaw Youth Empowered Coalition Community Coordinator Louann Sawyer said they focus on funding and coordinating their youth positive peer networks or youth prevention clubs such as Thrive.

Sawyer said one substantial reason why they applied to this grant is that it could aid the youth in Thrive to attend a summit in Spokane, which teaches youth more about substance use prevention. From here, Thrive wants to focus on creating positive substance use prevention messages within the schools and, eventually, districtwide and county-wide messages.

Sawyer said adults oversee the club, but this club is mostly run by the students. She said they hope the students return from the summit with ideas about how they will spread the word to their peers about how there is no need to use substances.

“The tagline I like to use is, ‘Nothing for youth without youth.’ What we adults want to tell them is maybe not the message that will resonate with each other,” Sawyer said. “So this is definitely a youth-driven project, where they will be creating the look and the ideas and the feel for those messages and be able to say, ‘Hey, this is what will really resonate with our peers.’”

Sawyer said she doesn’t want to speak for what the kids in Thrive plan to do, but in addition to educating people about substance use, they want to spread the positives about not using substances. She said they want to tell their peers they don’t need substances for their well-being and mental health. She said they try and spread the three R’s–Recognition, Resistance, and Resilience.

Enumclaw High School student Rhiannon Wilson said she’s seen how substance abuse affects people, and that’s partly why she likes being part of Thrive.

“I like being a part of THRIVE because I have seen the effects of bad mental health and substance abuse and what it can do to somebody, and if I can help someone or give someone the tools and resources to start on the path of feeling better mentally, then I believe that’s a wonderful thing to be a part of,” said member Rhiannon Wilson.

Sawyer said because Thrive is at the middle schools and high school, she thinks it creates a good role model for the younger kids. She said youth engagement is a large part of why some kids like Thrive so much. They want to take the middle schoolers under their wing in a positive way.

“We give out stickers, our thrive merch, and those kinds of things. And again, the high schoolers love love love to teach what they’ve learned to the younger kids,” Sawyer said. “The younger kids look up to these kids, so again, it’s just increasing that community attachment and those positive role models.”

Sawyer said kids have said they joined and stayed in Thrive because it’s positive, a way to support peers, and some kids have seen how substance use affects people in their lives, and they don’t want that for others.

“There are some who came and have been involved, and said, ‘Hey, my family, my Dad, my Mom have dealt with this, and I see it, and it’s hard.’ and so they want to help get the word out to other, even if they’re not sharing their personal story, but they want to help others be strong,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said she still doesn’t know when Thrive will start meeting, but the first or second week of September is a possibility.

For more information about Thrive, head to enumclawyouth.org/thrive.