Hundreds of high school students from across the state of Texas decended upon San Marcos this week for the 27th Annual Texas Campus Crime Stoppers Conference. Above, Hays High School students Xochi Schon-Wright, Rachel Fernandez and Catalina Ornelas led the discussion on fentanyl use. Below, Hays County Crime Stoppers Board Member Kim Hilsenbeck hosts a question and answer session with students on ideas to help students and schools struggling with drug use.
Daily Record photos by Dalton Sweat
CAMPUS CRIME STOPPERS
High Schoolers from around the state learn to be local leaders
Hays County Crime Stoppers is hosting the 27th Annual Texas Campus Crime Stoppers Conference bringing high schoolers in from around the state to San Marcos to learn – and teach – ways to keep communities safe.
The three-day conference was kicked off by a program hosted by the Hays High School Campus Crime Stoppers discussing the impacts of fentanyl and coming up with ideas on how to address the issue.
Hays High School students Catalina Ornelas, Rachel Fernandez and Xochi Schon-Wright led the discussion.
“They were here to help lead the conversation about drug use, fentanyl and the opioid crisis in our country, but more so here in Hays County,” Kim Hilsenbeck, a HCCS Board Member and Conference Chair, said. “They’re a part of Hays High School, which is part of Hays CISD. Our district has lost five students in less than a year to drug overdose – fentanyl specifically. So they were here to help kick off the conversation with our participants that are coming from all over the state to get a dialogue going about, ‘We know we have the problem. What do we do about the problem?’” Many of the ideas discussed were about listening and reaching out to those in need. That was a suggestion for both the young and the old.
“If we can start listening to our teen advocates and these teen leaders, and then all of our kids eventually, I think that we as adults will have a better chance of coming up with workable solutions,” Hilsenbeck said. “Right now, we’re not their main influence. We’re not the primary influence in their life. As a mom, I can say I know this for sure. So we want them to be the change agents. We want them to take this idea back to their school, that you can change the conversation about school safety, security and the culture in your school. How we deal with these issues. They are the leaders. We are looking to them for the solutions.”
The Campus Crime Stoppers Conference ends today at Embassy Suites. More than 300 students were estimated to attend.
dsweat @sanmarcosrecord.com
