Lourdes junior Molly Dwyer introduces her uncle at the beginning of the assembly.Mr. Arold is the uncle of Lourdes junior Molly Dwyer and was accompanied today by many members of his family that included his parents, siblings and their families, his aunt, and many caring friends whose unconditional love and support are seeing him through his recovery.

This morning’s schoolwide assembly addressed these concerns surrounding the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol use in teenagers and Mr. Arold impressed upon them how addiction does not discriminate by age, religion, or economic status. In addition, his closing message impressed upon all in attendance to participate in raising awareness and more importantly not be afraid to talk about it and ask for help.

Our Lady of Lourdes is dedicated to the continuous search for education, information, and experiences for our students. It is our commitment to provide the students of OLL with all the necessary research to be able to navigate current social issues that have a great impact on their lives. Due to the recent legalization of marijuana in parts of our state, and due to the increase in the opioid epidemic in our local geographic region, we feel it is absolutely necessary to furnish our students with the resources needed to establish the practice of positive decision-making. 

Lourdes Principal, Meghan Vilardo has been an advocate for educating students and exposing them to real-life scenarios. “As always, we want to provide as many tools as possible for our students to make decisions that best allow them to live a life of virtue, dignity, and self-respect. We are glad to be able to provide our students with this valuable experience that we hope will lead to thoughtful and important conversations at home.”

We are sincerely grateful that he shared his very personal story which is very real and emotional. May God bless him and his family in his continued recovery.