Youth face many challenges daily that require making a choice.

Whether that may be about school, drugs, posting on social media or making new friends, making the wrong choice can have consequences.

Some Allen Parish officials are working to arm students with powerful decision making skills and information to help them make the right choices and better shape their futures.

Allen Parish District Attorney Joe Green, Superintendent Kent Reed,Supervisor of Child Welfare, Attendance, Transportation and Special Services Kenney Courville, the Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement officials recently spoke to nearly 2,000 middle and high school students about good decision making skills.

“The whole program is geared toward helping kids make the right decisions for a better future, keeping them out of a bad situation and knowing what the consequences can be of their actions,” Green said.

For his part in the program, Green talks openly to the students about truancy, juvenile crimes, bullying, drug and vaping laws, dangers of sexting and posting things on social media.

“It’s truly important that they know they need to go to school and know that their decisions will have an impact on their lives,” he said. “We try to relate to them with our own experiences and how we were’t always the best student or athlete, but we managed to make it.”

The school district is committed to ensuring all students have a safe and nurturing school year, according to Reed.

“We want to educate our kids on all the laws and regulations and hopefully keep them in school,” Reed said. “As superintendent I want to push students to have positive behavior, listen well and attend school on a regular basis.”

The program tackled issues including vaping, drugs, bullying, sex-texting and truancy.

“We want to impress on these students how vaping, sex-texting and bullying, along with all the other things, have lasting consequences,” Sheriff Doug Hebert III said. “It may seem like a fun joke, but it may have lasting consequences.

“They need to think before that act because every thing that seems cool may not be.” Hebert continued. “They are better off using a little bit of common sense, forethought and acting their age.”

Students attending the program were very attentive and expressed their thanks to the presenters following the program, Reed said.

“This is good,” Reed said. “We want them to know that if they have any questions or concerns they can always come to an adult to help them.”

Life is full of choices and the officials realize that it is not easy for students to always know what to do or where to go for answers.

“There is so much bad information on the internet and in social media, we want to make sure that they are getting good information and making the right decisions,” Courville said.

Green, who launched the program last year in conjunction with the School Board and area law enforcement agencies, hopes to make the program an annual event.