Central Unified's continuation school is filled with students who've made bad choices and paid the price.
"My freshman year, I used to do a lot of things and I ditched. I used to go to Hoover and I ditched all year," said Bee Cabrera.
In an area once dubbed the meth capital of the world, drug use derails too many kids. That's why Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims is a fan of the show. "The students here at Pershing have had challenges," she said, "but they can be overcome and it can be overcome through expressing yourself."
Like Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign of the 1980's, speakers tell the kids to avoid drugs.
"If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have done what I did before," said musician Lance Canales.
But Canales isn't just speaking. He's lived it and he's offering a way out.
Cynthia Manuszak recruited Canales and his wife to share their music and art. While Lance played, Samantha Canales helped kids create.
"It gives them an actual outlet and it shows them they aren't throwaway kids, that they have something of value to offer the community and to themselves," said Canales.
What they offered during the hour-long assembly Friday was a mural. The kids say it shows they're taking the anti-drug message to heart.
"I'm pretty sure everybody here has done drugs, but I think it's a good message for everybody," said Cabrera.
In her case, it's lesson learned.
She's off drugs and on pace to graduate early, watching the sun rise over her future.
