Students receive community service credit for attending the Safe Homes event at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Westlake High School Performing Arts Center, but there is greater incentive to attend.

Keith Davis will be the featured speaker for the third time since Safe Homes was founded in 1997, and event organizers had good reasons for inviting him back. The former star who helped lead the University of Southern California football team to a national championship and played for the New York Giants is an extraordinary speaker. He holds audiences captive as he drives home a simple point about the effects of drugs and alcohol.

To say he is a charismatic speaker is an understatement, and his message is one that teens can easily understand – success depends on teens staying on course and away from alcohol and other drugs.

Parents say it enough, and teens certainly hear it enough, but it helps to watch a speaker of Davis’ caliber in action. He has dedicated his life to a cause he clearly believes in, and we as a community are fortunate to have him among us Tuesday. It is something we can’t afford to have our teens miss.

We hope Eases school district officials will ask teachers not to give homework assignments on that night because this message, appropriately titled “Wrong Voices. Wrong Choices,” is so powerful that it could potentially save lives.

University of Texas Professor Lori K. Holleran Steiker will also be a speaker during the event, and she also promises to bring an important message to teens about substance abuse and prevention.

As added incentive, WHS students attending get community service hours and a free tardy pass. Parents of WHS students attending will allow their teens to get double the community service credit, and the presentation is one that they are sure to appreciate.

Anyone can attend the event free of charge, and it is an investment of time that is certain to pay off.