Hall County Schools officials hope to promote alcohol-free and drug-free high schools by combining the idea of cliques and the trend of wearing silicone band bracelets.

"Every school has the jocks, the preps, the goths, the skaters, the thespians, the musicians, the thugs and the geeks," said Greg Brooks, director of 3 Dimensional Life, a nine-month residential program for troubled teenage boys. "Everyone wants a group to belong with. That’s what students are looking for."

Brooks and Carol Ann Ligon, coordinator of Hall County’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools, presented a pilot program to school board members Monday night. The program, which the two hope to place in freshmen health classes at all six high schools, will promote personal conviction about substance abuse.

"Peer pressure is the most influential aspect," Brooks said. "The students need the opportunity to belong to something bigger than themselves."

The new program, called "the CLIK," will emphasize "Commitment, Leadership, Integrity and Knowledge."

"As the students progress in each class, they get a different color band to correspond with the letter," Brooks said. "The bands add a level of personal conviction at school, home, prom and parties."

During the first nine weeks, a panel of students will talk during a class period about their differing experiences with drugs and alcohol. The student-led session will conclude with the opportunity for students to sign a commitment card and earn a colored band.

During the second and third nine weeks, students will learn about leadership and positively influencing their peers and then maintaining integrity by being consistent with their commitment.

During the final nine weeks, students will take part in mock court cases.

"In these real-life situations, students will be the judge and jury," Brooks said. "For example, a student who drank at home, with alcohol provided by his parents before he went out, killed someone and got a DUI. The family is being sued, so are the parents at fault?"

A new website, theCLIK.org, also will help parents and teachers face tough questions with their students.

"We want to go from a moment to a movement," Brooks said. "We don’t want this to be a shot in the arm, like you have with an engaging speaker. Those programs don’t have sustainability."

The school board agreed to allow Brooks and Ligon to move forward and approach the schools.

"It fits in with the school standards for health classes, but an elective teacher, who is also a coach, told me it fits into business law," Brooks said. "We may implement it in different places, depending on what the administrators offer."

Though the program will start with freshmen, Ligon wants to target all high schoolers.

"The upperclassmen will be the driving force behind it," she said. "The idea is to sell it through the administration and the teachers so they know what’s going on and then invite the upperclassmen to sit in on these panels."

Ligon said she plans to visit extracurricular groups as well.

"We infiltrate the organizations," she said. "We create a movement."