Every action has a consequence, fifth-grade students at Rossville Elementary School learned Monday.
"I made dumb choices, because things didn't go my way," David Wiley told a group of about 30 boys.
Wiley and Melissa Gustafson, both of whom served time in custody, talked separately to the 74 boys and girls in the fifth-grade class about how the bad choices they made when they were younger led them to jail and juvenile detention centers.
For the first time Prison Prevention Ministries started a program at an elementary school that eventually will include a maximum-security prison tour and counseling for at-risk youth.
"One of the reasons we wanted to bring it to elementary [school] is because we felt the younger we can reach the kids, the better chance they have in making a difference in some of their decisions," prevention manager Gretrell Watkins said.
The program can be a great service to the students as a preventive measure, Rossville Elementary School principal Robin Samples said.
"I felt like with our fifth-grade students the experiences they've had are so different than the experiences we had when we were growing up ... they can tell you what is marijuana, the differences between the drugs," she said.
Wiley told the group of boys how he made A's and B's in school in Dallas before his parents relocated to Chattanooga and he lost everything he cared for: his friends, football and music.
"I got mad and I gave up," said the 37-year-old, who spent a week in jail plus community service and probation for possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
"It came to a point where my whole life was coming apart," he said, adding he almost committed suicide before he realized he could do anything he wanted if he worked hard for it.
Channing Matthews said Gustafson's story about how she smoked marijuana and began skipping school at age 11 reinforced her own resolve to graduate and become a veterinarian.
"I think that I'm not going to make those decisions," said the 10-year-old fifth-grader. "I don't want to be taken for granted because I care about myself and how I'm supposed to live."
The ministry works in nearly 70 schools and six counties, including Hamilton, Walker and Whitfield, he said.
The main goal of sharing her story, Gustafson said, "is to try to help them see it's OK to say 'no' to bad choices."
"They do have a choice in life. They can break the cycle," she said.
Contact Perla Trevizo at ptrevizo@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6578. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Perla_Trevizo.