WINDHAM, Maine — At Windham Middle School, the conversation going on is about opioids.
"It's sad when I'll see something on social media of the amount of people who have died from an opioid addiction," Lillian Strout, a seventh-grade student, said.
It's something their generation is already familiar with.
Brittany Reichmann, a former student of Windham High School and person in recovery on the panel, said this is the time to talk about it.
“I know that currently there are some of these students that are already being introduced to substances, which is terrifying," Reichmann said.
She said she knows firsthand what substance use disorder at a young age can lead to.
“Eventually it led to a decade of a substance use disorder, prison, treatment, detox, and heartbreak for my family," she said. "I had all these goals and aspirations, and substances just totally wiped those off the map for me.”
The seventh-grade class was able to ask questions to a panel of people showing them the warning signs and what a substance addiction can become.
Students asked many hard-hitting questions, including, "What are the biggest struggles in recovery?"
One of the panelists who spoke with the students was Jacinta Hunt, the subject of the 2020 documentary about generational addiction.
“What drives me to come here today is because if I had known in high school that people were talking about it, I could ask for help. My addiction went on for nearly 20 years. It took a majority of my life, or so it seems like a majority of my life," Hunt said.
This wasn't just a one-day learning experience for this seventh-grade class but the start of a semester-long project.
“The great thing about this project is it's not just in one classroom. It's complex. These students will be learning about it in all of their subject areas," Peter Hill, assistant principal of Windham Middle School, said.
“Opioid addiction really hits a lot of families, so this is one they may have seen in their community and maybe even felt in their own personal lives," Hill added.
The opioid epidemic is only increasing each year in Maine, which is why people like Brittany and Jacinta feel inclined to share their stories.
“I had no idea I was physically addicted. I had no idea that my mind couldn't focus on anything else, because I was actually already addicted to the substance, and it took me a really long time to realize what that meant for me," Reichmann said.
“If we stay silent about it, it's deadly. If we talk about it, if we normalize it and work together as a team, we can save lives," Hunt said.
One student at a time.