Sun Valley : Anti-Drug Assembly Sends Upbeat Message

Six months ago, officials at Village Christian Schools invited undercover officers onto their private Sun Valley campus for a sting operation. Six students were arrested on suspicion of selling marijuana, and administrators’ anti-drug message was delivered loudly and clearly.

On Friday, the Village Christian Schools’ 1,100 junior high and high school students saw an hourlong video filled with clips of Tom Hanks, Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock and Alicia Silverstone. The images were larger than life, projected on a block of screens 10 feet high and 42 feet wide, backed by music from TLC, Melissa Etheridge and Van Halen.

The format was different, but the message remained the same. School officials hope to prevent substance abuse and other problems.

“We’re not going to close our eyes to the fact we’ve got problems [on campus]--we all do,” said Tim Bolin, director of student ministries at Village Christian Schools. “We want to empower the kids to take control of their own lives.”

The video shown Friday touted self-discipline, telling viewers that hard work is good, whereas pursuing shortcuts or immediate gratification only lowers a person’s self-worth.

“Consuming more means being dissatisfied with the previous amount. This leads to excessive behavior,” the narrator said. “True friends challenge us to be better tomorrow than today.”

Organizers hope the high-energy presentation will motivate students to attend one of several leadership retreats. Students will participate in team-building activities, then brainstorm about service projects to improve their community, said Mark Letts, vice president of the Burbank-based Motivational Media Assemblies, which offers the separate presentation and retreat programs.

“What we want to get from them are things they are excited about getting involved with,” Letts said.

The first workshop is scheduled Oct. 5-6 at Camp Gilmore in the Santa Monica Mountains and will involve about 60 students.