Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyve, Gov. Jim Justice, Parkersburg High School Principal Kenny DeMoss, School Superintendent Christie Willis and Executive Director Joe Boczek of WV GameChangers pose with a check for $90,000 to be used for the GameChanger program in Wood County. The program is a collaboration between the City of Parkersburg and Wood County Schools to take a proactive stance in combating substance misuse by youth. PHS, Van Devender Middle School and Jefferson Elementary Center are pilot schools for the program. Parkersburg is the first in West Virginia to allocate opioid settlement money for prevention education. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — Local officials, school administrators and students from Parkersburg High School and Van Devender Middle School packed into the Memorial Fieldhouse Monday as Gov. Jim Justice visited to celebrate PHS, Van Devender Middle School, and Jefferson Elementary Center being pilot schools for the WV GameChanger program.

The student-powered, substance misuse prevention movement connects West Virginia students and the educators through a coordinated, comprehensive prevention education program. Justice serves as the head coach of the program.

“What GameChangers is doing is absolutely God’s work in many, many ways,” Justice said. “And that’s really how I feel about it. I’m really honored to be their head coach. And I’m gonna try to continue to do anything and everything I can to help the kids.”

GameChangers is a student peer-led program that pairs students with paid coaches assigned to each school who work with school counselors, teachers and the Prevention Team at Hazelden Betty Ford to educate and counsel students and to provide resources for those facing or at risk of addiction.

PHS Principal Kenny DeMoss said at one point last year he had 14 students visit his office in a week with 13 of them saying they were affected by the drug epidemic in some way.

Gov. Jim Justice was at Parkersburg High School Monday to talk about the GameChanger program and celebrate PHS, Van Devender Middle School and Jefferson Elementary Center being pilot schools. The program is a collaboration between the City of Parkersburg and Wood County Schools to take a proactive stance in combating substance misuse. Also pictured is Babydog and Superintendent of Schools Christie Willis. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“It highly impacts almost every family in some particular way,” DeMoss said.

He said each case is different and that drugs can affect students in many different ways. From patents who are either in jail or deceased due to drugs to students seeing their friends and classmates struggle with addiction. He said the program offers an opportunity to make a tremendous impact on students’ lives.

“We just want to continue to impact as many students as we possibly can on a positive level,” Demoss said. “If we can save one life that’s better than not saving any at all.”

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce presented the governor with a check for $90,000 to assist in funding for the program making Parkersburg the first in West Virginia to allocate opioid settlement money for prevention education.

Joyce said the governor and others have worked hard to create opportunities for the people of West Virginia.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce and Gov. Jim Justice talked to Parkersburg High School students Monday about the dangers of using drugs. The school is among three in the county in the GameChanger program that takes a proactive stance in combating substance misuse by youth. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“I look at this as just another opportunity for you, and I’m talking to the students now, to live a life free of drugs and addiction and to get on a path to academic success with being better students, better brothers and sisters, better siblings, better friends, better Big Reds,” Joyce said. “And like the governor and all these men and women in uniform, and these guys sitting down here, they’re rooting for you. We’re all rooting for the next generation of West Virginians… to put this behind us.”

Joe Boczek, executive director of WV GameChangers, said the program is peer leadership teaching other students how to live drug free. He said he was a marketer and an advertising promoter but had a daughter who suffered from drug addiction.

“Yesterday she was 13 years clean from heroin. … That was one of the worst aspects that we’ve ever gone through as a family,” Boczek said. “So it’s real. I’ve had parents bury their kids. This is not going away. And we must all be together to fight this because it’s going to kill our kids. It’s killing our kids now.”

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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Members of law enforcement pose for a picture with Gov. Jim Justice and Babydog Monday in Parkersburg High School’s Memorial Fieldhouse as the governor stopped by the school to promote the GameChanger program. The program is a collaboration between the City of Parkersburg and Wood County Schools to take a proactive stance in combating substance misuse among its youth population. PHS, Van Devender Middle School and Jefferson Elementary Center are pilot schools for the program. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

A Glance at GameChanger

* GameChanger is in 55 schools in 18 West Virginia counties. Its 34-minute documentary, One Pill Can Kill, addresses the deadly Fentanyl issue.

* It was recently named the recipient of national and international awards at film festivals in the United States and France.

* As a youth-led positive development and community enhancement initiative, GameChanger programming, designed in conjunction with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, educates, supports, and empowers young West Virginians to live healthy, drug-free lifestyles while becoming our leaders of tomorrow.

* To learn more about the program, visit www.gamechangerusa.org.

The Parkersburg High School choir performed Monday in the Memorial Fieldhouse as Gov. Jim Justice visited to talk about the GameChanger program and celebrate PHS, Van Devender Middle School and Jefferson Elementary Center being pilot schools. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)