Calendar & News
School News

Equipping Students for the Opioid Epidemic

Starting this week, Maranatha High School will help facilitate necessary conversations about opioid overdose.

Sadly, this is an issue that affects thousands of high schoolers. Maranatha seeks to help equip our students to not only make wise decisions for themselves, but to also know what to do when and if they encounter an opioid emergency. 
 
For that reason, on March 1, we will be hosting END OVERDOSE, an organization committed to ending drug-related overdose through education, medical intervention, and public awareness. They will be speaking to our students about naloxone (also known as Narcan), a medication that can be used to mitigate or even reverse the effects of opioid overdose. This presentation will serve to provide our student body with the practical knowledge of what to do if and when an emergency occurs. 
 
Then, on March 9, our students will meet in their respective advisory groups, where they will listen to a presentation from one of Maranatha's school parents, who is a medical professional here in Pasadena. She'll be addressing our students' most frequently asked questions about opioid overdose, and also clarify why this issue should matter for us as Jesus-honoring people. Our hope is that this conversation will help enhance our students' capacity to understand this issue on a deeper and spiritual level and also increase their compassion for those who have been indelibly affected by it. 
 
Though our desire is for every Maranatha student to participate, we fully recognize that the above presentations may have the potential to be triggering to a few of our students for any number of reasons. If you believe that your child's participation in these conversations might do more harm than good, please send an email to Dr. Chai to request an opt-out accommodation. We will identify some safe spaces on campus for students who need them to withdraw to, hosted by some of our Deans of Students and Wellness Counselor. However, due to the gravity of this issue and our concurrent heart for our students to be well-equipped, we do strongly encourage everyone's participation, if at all possible.
Back