Sen. Shelley Moore Capito visited Marion County on Monday to join officials in welcoming East Fairmont High School and Fairmont Senior High School as the state’s two newest GameChanger schools.

With the addition of the two high schools, Marion County has eight GameChanger schools.

Capito said it was a pleasure to speak to participating administrators, teachers and students about how they work to educate their peers about substance abuse.

“Drug addiction has devastated our families throughout West Virginia, and GameChanger is a proven program,” Capito said. “I’m proud to be here today to talk about the expansion. ... When you talk to the students, it’s a lot about community for them. A lot of people want to help other people, but they don’t know how. This gives them easy access to how they can help a friend or classmate. ...”

“There’s also power in a group. If a group can band together and be anti substance abuse and talk about that openly, that’s a strength. The further we get it — the more widespread it is — the more effect it’s going to have,” she said.

Marion Superintendent Dr. Donna Heston said she hopes having eight GameChanger schools in the county will be a boon to the state’s battle with substance abuse, and she commended the schools’ faculty leadership for their part in the programming.

“For us, it was important to show the students in the stands the work they’ve done and their commitment,” Heston said. “We solidified our commitments to our high schools, and we have our three largest middle schools involved. It all shows the continuum of sharing in the messaging that GameChanger does in Marion County.”

Capito said she hopes to see the GameChanger program spread more throughout the county and state as a whole, and she plans to continue advocating for the program’s expansion and the overall fight against addiction.

“Marion County Schools and the County Commission have joined forces to commit resources to it, so I think that’ll help it grow,” Capito said. “Overall, statewide, deaths by overdose are down a lot. It’s about the openness of being able to address a serious health problem and putting policies in place to help programs like GameChanger and the availability of Naloxone and prevention materials.”