Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) is a club in Stroudsburg High School (SHS) focused on decision making, kindness, and mental health awareness. Our high school’s SADD chapter is only one of over 8,000 chapters across the country focused on bettering student’s lives. While originally SADD was created to focus on drunk driving awareness, over the years it has expanded to include mental health awareness, drug and alcohol prevention, and other topics on good decision making.
SADD Club has been at SHS for over 20 years and Melissa Koehler’s 6th year as its advisor. SADD has been known over the years to cover national events such as Red Ribbon Week, Suicide Prevention Month, National Passenger Safety Week, Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Month, and many more. In order to spread awareness, the club has given out bracelets, had students sign pledges to be drug free, given out infographic slips, etc. However, this year SHS’s SADD hopes to accomplish more.
“As president, I plan to continue our scheduled activities for the year and work with my fellow officers to create more. I think it is a valuable experience that if you haven’t participated in before, you definitely should.
— Arda Gocuklu, '26
.sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 { display: flex; float: right; margin: 30px 0 30px 30px; width: 50%; border-color: #888888; border-top-width: 5px; border-right-width: 5px; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-width: 5px; } .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 p.pullquotetext, .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 p.quotespeaker { } .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 .pullquotepic { width: 33%; margin-left: 25px; } .sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 p.pullquotetext { font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.4em; } .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 .quotebar { background: #dddddd; flex: 0 0 90px; margin-top: -15px; margin-left: -15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; } .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 .largequote { color: #888888; } .sno-pullquote-6913aad149cf3 .quotebody { width: unset; }SADD recently elected its officers for the current 2025-26 school year resulting in Arda Gocuklu as President, Bryan N’Diaye as Vice President, Abigail Hevener as Secretary, Peyton Costigan as Treasurer, Zoey Zeballos as Social Media Chair, Madison Parton as Junior Representative, and Jade Carter as Sophomore Representative. These officers have been consulting with the other club members to generate new ideas to better spread the important messages of SADD Club. The club will be hosting and participating in 3 main events this year: seatbelt checks, elementary school presentations, and a trip to the capitol with the Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU).
Seatbelt checks are where members of the club check to make sure student drivers and their passengers are wearing their seatbelts as they leave the school. Club members wear reflective vests and stand at the exits of the student parking lots. If students are wearing their seatbelts they will receive a piece of candy while students who do not wear their seatbelts will receive a “ticket” which outlines the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt. These seatbelt checks are often done a few times a year with the most recent one occurring on October 21, 2025.
SADD Club’s elementary school presentations are meant to teach young students about making good decisions. Members first do interactive presentations with the classes before breaking off into activities which help the students to figure out what healthy choices are and how they directly impact us. This year SADD hopes to present at all of the school district’s elementary schools.
While the club was unable to take a trip to the capitol last year, they have high hopes to go again this year. TRU holds an annual advocacy event in Harrisburg where student groups propose bills and solutions about tobacco related issues to Pennsylvania’s legislatures. The event focuses on issues of flavored tobacco, clean indoor air, point of sale, E-cigarettes, Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) funding, and Tobacco Purchase, Use, and Possession (PUP) laws.
“I think SADD is a very inspirational club that deserves more recognition. SADD has encouraged me to donate my own money to rehabilitation centers and to help my own community with these issues.” – Julianna Mcallister, ’26
The next SADD meeting is on November 11, 2025 in room G100 at 2:30. More information about the club can be found on its Instagram, @stroudsburghs_sadd.