Skip to main content

The Daily Auburn

AUBURN, Mass. – For much of the past school year, Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis has been very busy personally presenting his Face2Face Program twice a week to middle and high school students from throughout Worcester County.

On Wednesday, he paid a special visit to Auburn’s Julia Bancroft Elementary School to have a Face2Face meeting with the entire fifth grade class to discuss the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

The Face2Face program is an ongoing part of the sheriff’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Initiative for Worcester County Schools which until recently was reserved for middle and high school students only.

Upon receiving a significant amount of requests from school administrators to bring the highly effective and innovative program to elementary school kids, Evangelidis is now aiming his message at pre-teens as well.

“As Sheriff I always enjoy spending time in the Auburn schools meeting with our students. This past January, I had the distinct pleasure of presenting the Face2Face Program to the entire 6th, 7th & 8th grades at Auburn Middle School. I am thrilled to be here today in March with the entire 5th grade at Julia Bancroft Elementary to present a new “pre-teen” version of the Face2Face Program.”

Evangelidis continued, “Our Face2Face Program is specifically designed to send a powerful message to middle and high School students about the enormous dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Having a new and customized “pre-teen” version of this program provides us with a tremendous opportunity to send that important message to our county’s elementary students as well.”

“On behalf of the students and faculty at Julia Bancroft Elementary School, I would like to thank Sheriff Evangelidis for presenting his new pre-teen version of the Face2Face program to our entire 5th grade class today. The Sheriff’s Face2Face presentation was extremely innovative and powerful and perfectly geared towards our elementary students. As an educator, I strongly recommend the Sheriff’s Face2Face program for every Middle School, High School and now Elementary School in Worcester County,” Julia Bancroft Elementary School Principal Susan Lopez said.

In addition to seeing the new version of the Sheriff’s Face2Face Program, all the fifth grade students received special Junior Sheriff Badges to celebrate the visit.