Ross County’s Drug Free Clubs of America chapter, M.A.D.E., or, My Attitude Determines Everything, will conduct its annual Drug Free M.A.D.E. Rally this Friday, October 25th. Now in its fourth year, the rally sees hundreds of high school students from the south-central Ohio area gather at the Ross County Courthouse to pledge a drug free lifestyle.
It’ll be an even larger rally this year as M.A.D.E. organizers have recruited Springfield’s Springfield Clark Career and Tech Center, Scioto County’s South Webster High School and Gallia County’s Buckeye Hills Career Center. It’ll also feature the addition of two new Pickaway County Schools: Teays Valley and Westfall.
M.A.D.E. organizers also add that Greenfield McClain, Waverly, Piketon and Jackson high schools are also looking to start their own Drug Free Clubs chapter and will also be joining this year’s rally to see how Ross County’s local M.A.D.E. program operates. That brings the total number of schools participating this year to 18, up from just 8 in 2018. The combined attendance will result in an estimated 3,000 high-school-age teens taking part.
The students will begin the rally with a march from Chillicothe High School at 11:45 this Friday morning through Yoctangee Park, then south down Paint Street to the Ross County Courthouse.
The rally will result in a few downtown street closures. Those include parts of Yoctangee Parkway, Water Street at the park’s entrance, and Paint Street from Water to Main.