MONTVALE, N.J.—By the time she graduates from Pascack Hills High School next spring, Allison Colla hopes one of her most important contributions to the school will already have become routine.
Through Spray Safe, the Girl Scout Gold Award project she launched in 2025, Colla has distributed more than 380 naloxone (Narcan) kits, trained students and community members to recognize opioid overdoses, and created educational materials that will continue to be used in Pascack Hills health classes after she leaves.
The project has become one of the most far-reaching student-led public health initiatives in the Pascack Valley.
“Inspired by overdose prevention efforts, I created the initiative to address gaps in opioid education and reduce the stigma surrounding addiction,” Colla tells Pascack Press.
A rising senior and Montvale resident, Colla has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten and is pursuing the Gold Award, the organization’s highest honor. The award requires participants to identify the root cause of a community issue and develop a sustainable solution through a minimum of 80 hours of service.
Through a partnership with the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition, Colla became an official community distributor of naloxone nasal spray, allowing her to provide evidence-based overdose prevention education while supplying residents with free Narcan kits.
Since October 2025, Spray Safe has distributed more than 380 kits throughout the community.
At Hills, Colla presented overdose prevention programs to upperclassmen in health classes during the 2025-26 school year. To ensure the work continues, her presentations and online resources have been preserved in a shared folder for the school’s Physical Education Department, allowing future classes to benefit from the curriculum.
Beyond school, Spray Safe has expanded through community outreach and partnerships with organizations including the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition, The Center for Alcohol and Drug Resources of Bergen County, Bergen County HEAP, NJ4S Bergen and Prevention Is Key.
Colla hosted an educational table at the June Montvale Street Fair, reaching thousands of visitors, and presented the program to a Park Ridge Girl Scout troop composed of high school students.
In March, she represented Girl Scouts as the Gold Award ambassador at the Voter Girl event in Paterson, where she shared the project and distributed Narcan kits to attendees including state Sen. Holly Schepisi, Passaic County Clerk Danielle Ireland-Imhof and Children’s Aid and Family Services President and CEO Shavonda Sumter.
The project has also extended into her workplace. A lifeguard at Life Time Bergen County, Colla trained more than 70 lifeguards and swim instructors in overdose response this spring and helped place Narcan kits in the facility’s first-aid stations, where they had not previously been available.
The initiative has been recognized by the Borough of Montvale and the Pascack Valley Regional High School District.
And it speaks to the broader culture of student initiative at Pascack Hills. Earlier this summer, the school’s student newspaper, The Trailblazer, published a feature on the many ways students were using their summers—from university research programs and internships to hospital volunteering and independent passion projects.
Among the examples was Spray Safe, highlighting Colla’s effort to turn an independent idea into a community-wide public health program.
Outside of Spray Safe, Colla is a varsity football cheerleader and four-year letter recipient who coaches younger athletes in Montvale’s recreation cheerleading program.
She is also a leader on FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1676, the Pascack Pi-oneers, serving as finance leader and awards leader on the marketing team. Her responsibilities include helping write corporate grants, participating in the team’s international collaboration group and assisting with management of the team’s approximately $70,000 annual budget.