COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT
One Good IDEA Reaches Thousands of Students Across Houston
By Polly Graham
The Houston Lawyer
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enter the fifth grade at age 10, when a or nearly twenty years, doctors child is first considered a juvenile. and lawyers across Houston Students are encouraged to ask and have been teaming up twice a answer questions throughout the preyear through the Interprofessentations. To stimulate discussion, volsional Drug Education Alliance unteers often bring props such as hand(IDEA) Program to teach fifth grade stucuffs, jail attire, photographs, and organs dents about the medical and legal consequences of drug use. The program began in 1992 as a collaborative effort between the Houston Bar Association and the Harris County Medical Society, and has reached over 45,000 students since its inception. During the nationwide Red Ribbon Week for drug abuse prevention this past October, 24 doctor-lawyer teams Attorney Rachael Rolon was joined by her husband, Dr. Sam Rolon, for an IDEA presentation in October. connected with over 1,500 school children across Houston. In interactive sessions, the teams talked to students about how drugs affect their minds, bodies, and futures. Each lawyer is trained to give students practical information about Texas criminal laws. For example, many students learn that juveniles are subject to a special system of Fifth graders gather around Dr. Bruce Edison’s display of justice in which they can be organs damaged by alcohol. damaged by drug and alcohol abuse. By handcuffed, arrested, and kept in a depraising student participation, the teams tention facility. This basic information create a supportive environment where resonates with an audience of older elstudents can feel good about contributementary school children who typically
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ing to a productive dialogue, and volunteers can gently illicit and correct misconceptions. Houston attorney Debbie Ziegler, a 2011-2012 co-chair of the IDEA committee, has been volunteering her time to make the program a success for over four years. She describes the program as extremely rewarding, noting that both the student participants and their teachers were very appreciative of volunteers’ time and effort. One of Ziegler’s favorite teaching tools is to bring a football to throw with the fifth graders. After passing the ball around, she then asks the students to put on a pair of “beer goggles.” With their vision distorted, the students find they can no longer catch a ball or write legibly. The students laugh and have fun, while taking home a memorable lesson on the serious consequences of alcohol use. Perhaps in the years to come some of these students will remember Ziegler’s goggles when pressured to use drugs or alcohol. The spring IDEA program is set for May 8. Those interested in volunteering for the program should contact Debbie Ziegler at debbie@chaffinlawfirm.net or co-chair Carlos Garcia at crgarciaatlaw@peoplepc. com. Polly Graham is an associate in the appellate practice section at Haynes and Boone LLP and a member of The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board.