Aron Welch, new P&I coordinator for United South Central’s school district, will be working hand-in-hand with the Faribault County-based coalition against alcohol and other drugs known as the FariCARES coalition.

Faribault County has shown they really care about their youth.

First, it was back in 2012 when a coalition formed under the name FariCARES, and now, five years later, FariCARES?has applied for and was accepted for a five-year grant through the Minnesota Department of Human Services that will support the community and build on what its schools, United South Central specifically, are doing right in terms of alcohol use prevention.

In 2013, United South Central School District participated in the Minnesota Student Survey. In that survey, data showed that 21.1 percent of eighth-, ninth- and 11th-graders used alcohol in the last 30 days prior to the survey.

It was then the FariCARES?coalition against alcohol and other drugs decided to kick things into high gear to help students make healthier choices, which included applying for the five-year grant.

If that was not good enough news for some community members, there is more. The data gathered from the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey shows that 78.9 percent of eighth-, ninth- and 11th-graders did not use alcohol in the last 30 days. That means most of USC’s students did not use alcohol in 2013.

Aron Welch is ready to help address Faribault County’s alcohol abuse concerns amongst its teenagers. His hope is to create a lasting impression on the United South Central School District and the surrounding community as their new Planning & Implementation coordinator to reduce youth alcohol use.

Fast forward to 2016 at USC and you may see a new staff member roaming the halls. His name is Aron Welch, and he has a special job on his hands as USC’s new Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Planning and Implementation coordinator.

Welch was born and raised in Winona by his parents, Joe and Kara Welch, where he learned to appreciate the great outdoors.

“I have always been an active person and have been blessed with a family that promotes health and an active lifestyle,” says Welch.

His favorite activities outside of work include fishing, hunting, mountain biking and snowboarding. His office at USC is adorned with a large tapestry of a deep forest, since his office does not have windows.

It was through his healthy living and active choices growing up that helped Welch determine where he wanted to go after high school.

The 27-year-old decided, during his attendance at the University of Minnesota Duluth, that he wanted to focus on public health education. He received his B.A. degree in public health education and promotion.

After college, Welch moved back to Winona for a few years and became an education assistant in the elementary school where he worked one-on-one with students who had Emotional Behavior Disorders, or EBD.

Now Welch has the opportunity to apply his experience and his degree at USC.

“This position was a perfect fit for what I have been working hard to achieve. I’m eager to begin working on positive community norms with not only the FariCARES?coalition board, but the students, staff, and parents of USC students as well.”

It is a big title with two big objectives: one of the main goals of this project is to reduce youth alcohol use, and the second is to increase the capacity of the community to do effective prevention work long after the grant ends.

The seven-step Montana Model for Positive Community Norms Communication uses core principles of the Science of the Positive to grow positive norms through leadership development, communication strategies, integration of prevention resources, and structured reflection.

It may sound like a jumble of jargon, but Welch has been attending in-depth training to ensure that he and the community have the tools and knowledge to impact the USC culture and experience to focus and support youth to make good choices instead of doing what they may think everyone else is doing.

“This work will be cultivating cultural transformation by working on multiple community levels and factors at once. This framework has shown itself to be extremely effective in creating meaningful social change around health and safety issues and I am excited to begin this process for the USC?community,” says Welch.

No matter what tasks are on his to-do list, Welch says he is ready to educate people on these positive social norms. Welch will be working closely with the FariCARES?coalition, community members, county government, law enforcement, school administration, religious communities, business owners, parents, as well as different health and care providers.

“By focusing on the positive aspects of our community and this data we received in 2013, we will be able to have our students focus on taking away the cloak of misperception about alcohol and drug use around the area by using more data to show our progress,” says Welch.

“We are proud of our teens in both of our school districts. We want USC and its community to see that the majority of our students are making good choices. Our community has the answers to our concerns already, we just need to get the conversation going and data to back up what positive changes are happening,” says Welch. “I’m ready to start this conversation with all of our students and families in the USC?district.”

Welch says if anyone in the area is interested in joining the FariCARES?coalition, or learning about Positive Community Norms in general, the public is welcome to get involved in the coalition. FariCARES’ next coalition meeting will take place at United Hospital District at 9 a.m. on Oct. 27.