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Engaging Students in Healthy Choices, Prevention, and Well-Being: Preparing for Red Ribbon Week and Beyond
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT
Engaging Students in Healthy Choices, Prevention, and Well-Being: Preparing for Red Ribbon Week and Beyond
Presented by Madeline O’Neil, Director, Partner Impact, Discovery Education; Tom Grane, Director of Educational Programs, Responsibility.org; and Karen Balbier, Digital Technologist, El Paso Independent School District (TX)
Sponsored by Discovery Education
Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
Red Ribbon Week—the nation's largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign—is a powerful opportunity to help students build the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to make healthy choices. View an edWebinar designed to help you prepare for Red Ribbon Week with a complete toolkit of free classroom resources, student activities, videos, and prevention education strategies.
In this session, hear from leading prevention education organizations offering practical ideas and engaging materials that can be implemented immediately across grade levels. Whether you're planning a single classroom lesson, a schoolwide initiative, or family engagement activities, this session will help you create a meaningful and age-appropriate experience that encourages healthy decision making and student well-being.
Get an inside look at three free prevention education programs:
- Operation Prevention — standards-aligned classroom resources, a parent toolkit, and professional learning that address the opioid epidemic, substance misuse, and counterfeit pills, helping students understand the science of addiction and build refusal skills.
- Ask, Listen, Learn — evidence- and science-based upper elementary and middle school underage drinking prevention resources, including Virtual Labs that explore how alcohol affects the developing brain and help kids build the skills to say "NO" to underage drinking in the face of peer pressure.
- Dose of Knowledge — a no-cost prevention program that focuses on prescription medicine safety, misuse prevention, and connecting students with trusted health professionals.
This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to middle and high school teachers, school leaders, and school counselors.
About the Presenters
Madeline O'Neil is Director of Partnerships at Discovery Education, where she collaborates with corporations, nonprofits, and community organizations to develop engaging educational programs that inspire students and support educators. With experience spanning partnership strategy, youth development, and program evaluation, she is passionate about creating learning experiences that connect classroom instruction to real-world opportunities and help students prepare for their futures.
Tom Grane is the Director of Educational Programs for Responsibility.org. Tom has worked in education his entire career, including various K-12 and higher education programs. Currently, he oversees Responsibility.org’s Ask, Listen, Learn, Responsible Teens, Alcohol101+, and Responsibility Works programs. Prior to coming to Responsibility.org, he worked as a high school teacher, in various student services roles at the college level, and as an educational content developer at a national television network. He holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Penn State University and a master’s degree in educational psychology from George Mason University.
Karen Balbier is an experienced educator with more than 24 years of service in public education. She earned her Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso, with a specialization in Life and Earth Sciences, and later earned her Master Technology Teacher certification in 2014. Throughout her career, Karen has combined her background in science, technology, and classroom instruction to support meaningful learning experiences for students and educators. She currently serves as a Digital Technologist with El Paso Independent School District, where she supports the effective integration of technology into teaching and learning. Karen brings more than two decades of practical classroom and instructional experience to her work as an educational consultant.
Join the School Health & Safety community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.
Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning and improving academic achievement around the globe.
