The first ever Dr. Ruth Ann White Day will take place in the American Ballroom of the Memorial Student Center Oct. 3. The event will include multiple seminars which cover the event’s theme, “Understanding Today’s Drug Culture”. It is open to all Texas A&M University-Commerce students and faculty, as well as high school students in the immediate area, free of charge.
“Dr. Ruth Ann White was a professor of counseling here at the university,” Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, the student affairs coordinator at the department of counseling, said. “She is the who’s who of student affairs. Student affairs are the out of the classroom learning experience for students, like the Memorial Student Center or intramurals. So, the name ‘Dr. Ruth Ann White’ is synonymous with excellence in teaching and student affairs, and she’s right here with us.”
The event will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon and feature three seminars, which will educate local students about drug usage, how to spot its signs, and how to prevent it.
“It will be a seminar, interactive, hands on experience,” Hendricks said.
Among the presenters will be officials from the Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs Special Crime Unit who will have with them illegal drugs taken off the street. This is so students who have had little exposure to today’s drug culture can have a better sense of what to look out for.
“Perhaps some students have never seen methamphetamine. Maybe some haven’t seen Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the ‘cheese’ heroin, or any other of those illegal drugs out there. They will bring that and talk about the dangers associated with using those drugs,” Hendricks said.
The seminars are not just restricted to people on the A&M-Commerce campus or to people in the Commerce community. Dr. Hendricks said that anyone in the Northeast Texas community will be welcome to attend.
“The material presented will be very helpful to high school students. Drugs are everywhere, and we need all the education we can get,” White said.