Job Well Done

Job Well Done

        Whew! It has been a fast and furious past eight weeks for Safe Sober Prom Night! There are many stories of teamwork, enthusiasm, participation, passion, and success!

       The students’ participation and enthusiasm make us optimistic about the future of our community. Our students are bright, talented, motivated, and really trying to do the right things fro a successful future. They are well on their way!

       Teams of Daggett Shuler attorneys and staff personally visited approximately 35 area high schools encouraging students to sign a pledge not to drink or use drugs on prom night, distributing student designed t-shirts, and speaking to the students. “Positive messages to our youth ensure the quality of our community for years to come!”

        This year the firm has personally paid for, delivered, and distributed more than 13,500 t-shirts to high school students in the Triad area, and made them available to all high schools throughout North and South Carolina.

        We have also had some technological breakthroughs with the website at www.SafeSober.com, including virtual pledge cards, video contests, and many resources for teens. The SSPN Facebook page has become very popular for the students Next year portends to be even bigger and better!

       Of course there are also the difficult parts. We encounter those who have lost loved ones, or are injured or disabled, in car accidents due to drunk drivers. Meeting those suffering folks and hearing their stories really hits home for us since it was our professional contact with people hurting in these ways that inspired us to start the SSPN program 21 years ago.

        Most of all, SSPN is a story of success. Success for our teens, our community, and our Daggett Shuler team. We are already brainstorming for Safe Sober Prom Night 2012! We look forward to having you join us!

Half Way

Half Way

Doesn't it always seem to feel really good to be half way done?  Well, this past week at Daggett Shuler we passed the half way mark with our 2011 Safe Sober Prom Night program.  So far, so good.   We have had no reports of prom night car accidents of other tragedies.

Part of the fun of SSPN is our interaction with the students.  So far this year we have reached over 10,000 juniors and seniors in the triad area.  All these students have had the opportunity to sign the Safe Sober Prom Night "Do It Right!" pledge and to receive a free t-shirt.  Some of the students have mentioned that they have been waiting since they were freshmen and sophomores and are excited that "now it's my turn!"  These students inspire us.

We are also inspired by the attorneys and staff on our team here at Daggett Shuler.  Out teams lead the program at all of the area high schools.  They do this out of care, concern, and as a way to make a positive contribution to our community.  We certainly thank our many helping hands that make this program so successful.  At the same time, we also thank our in office team members as we all cover for each other during this eight-week period of time when we are all doing double duty.

Although it has been fun to pass the half way point in the Safe Sober program, it is interesting that in life we never really know where half way is.  We always need to be looking up and forward, trying to improve and do better, not just coasting.  In fact, this is a lesson that students teach us at every school we visit.

A hallmark of the SSPN program is positive peer pressure.  Positive friendships and activities with peers help us establish values, and then these influences are a rock of stability as we continue through life.

Peers also push us and help us to be better.  Students do this in a very positive forward looking fashion.  They help to lift each other's spirits and keep each other accountable.  Peers provide a core group of support.  Selecting and encouraging positive peers and providing them support, too, actually goes a long way toward building our own successes.

Half way is certainly exciting!  However, half way also means that we need to keep looking forward, improving, and doing better.  As life progresses and we all look back at our successes, we will see a long list of positive peers that have helped to make us better and have made us what we are.

Personally, I am not sure if I have made it "half way" yet, but I know there are many peers that have helped me every step of the way.  Thank you to all who've helped us get to the half way point, and thank you for the army of peers and peer groups out there that encourage all of us, and particularly our students, in a positive fashion.