Play Hard, Live Clean Campaign shows positive numbers

Records show that 18% of all Garrett County school students participated the Play Hard, Live Clean (PHLC) Campaign during the 2017-2018 school year. That total participation number includes just over 19% of elementary school students, 18% of middle school students, and 16% of high school students.

“The inaugural year of the Play Hard, Live Clean campaign went even better than I imagined,” said Kendra McLaughlin, Director of Health Education and Outreach at the Garrett County Health Department (GCHD), “but there’s still so much potential for it to grow. I envision a day when one of our kindergartners will be graduating from high school, having been a participant in PHLC for all 13 years, and, more importantly, living and leading a healthy lifestyle.”

The purpose of the PHLC Campaign is to encourage youth to make good choices by recognizing and rewarding them for certain positive lifestyle accomplishments from kindergarten through graduation. Each public school participated in the campaign at varying rates, with the highest participation being 59% of Swan Meadow’s kindergarten through eighth graders.

“Presenting PHLC never gets old,” said James Michaels, Administrative Specialist at GCHD, and PHLC Coordinator. “Watching students and staff get engaged with the campaign is inspirational.”

The underlying premise of the program is that if a young person arrives at age 21 prior to smoking, abusing alcohol, or drugs, they are virtually certain never to do so.

“I see PHLC as a movement where students are able to think about and be rewarded for their positive life choices,” Michaels said. “This could be a movement that changes our community in a very positive way. The impact will be seen in exponential ways for years to come as more and more students choose to live the PHLC lifestyle.”

The campaign includes different levels of involvement for different age groups, beginning with a focus on “Play Hard” for the younger students, and building up to a concentration on “Live Clean” as they reach the higher grades:

• Elementary school: Students’ participation monitored by school staff; encourages physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables, and limiting screen time; receive small, fun incentives to collect and display on backpacks
• Middle school: participants increase the levels of all the components of the elementary school campaign; plus sign a pledge to be drug, alcohol, and tobacco free
• High school: all online – students log onto PlayHardLiveClean.com website; sign the PHLC pledge; receive points for other PHLC activities; collect points toward prizes and scholarships

Michael Stemple, a recent graduate of Southern High School, received the first-ever PHLC Scholarship. Michael leaves for Basic Training in the Marine Corps soon and plans to use his scholarship to purchase supplies and to get him ready for the military for the next four years.

For more information about the Play Hard, Live Clean campaign, or about Garrett County Drug-Free Communities Coalition, call the health department at 301-334-7730, or 301-895-3111, or visit PlayHardLiveClean.com.

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department