Scaring Students Straight

Two inmates from the Noble County Correctional Facility captivated Tri-Valley High School students Thursday morning.

Rocky and Chris shared their experiences about what led them to commit their crimes. Rocky started dealing drugs in his youth.

"When I was younger I really hid it," said Rocky. "How did I get caught? I caught by somebody wearing a wire. Do you know what that is? Somebody basically told on me."

"Whenever you have close to 900 students and you have a couple speakers and you can hear a pin drop, you know they are listening to what’s going on," said Principal Jim Pottmeyer.

Students had the opportunity to ask the inmates about their time in prison, bullying and their decisions they made that led them to this point.

"You always hear your advisors and teachers telling you this and that," said Senior Colin Humphrey. To hear it from them and real life experiences, I thought was cool."

"I think at our school it’s very sheltered," added Senior Carley Nauer. "We’re not exposed to a lot of stuff so they’re like, Oh I’m going to do this. It’ll be really funny. But, after they’re like, Oh I shouldn’t really have done that."

Both students said they hope other schools in the area take part in this scared straight program.