"Haters shake my hands, but I keep the sanitizer on deck," r apper KiD CuDi said. In this time of America’s H1N1 panic and businesses built around selling disease prevention items, is hand sanitizer really the answer? There are drawbacks to sanitizer: it may not actually be potent enough to kill the bacteria on one’s hands. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration recommends that "hand sanitizers not be used in place of soap and water but only as an adjunct." Ames High has jumped on board with sanitizer. "We have one dispenser in every classroom. There are also 6 stand alone dispensers throughout the school," principal Michael McGrory said. "We wanted to be proactive, with our goal being addressing H1N1. We got such a great deal [on the hand sanitizer]." With protecting students in mind, Ames High has done a good job of keeping students from getting sick this year. "Our goal was to stop [H1N1] from spreading by being pro-active and avoiding kids getting it. Out of all the schools in the district, based on size, Ames High has lost the lowest percent of students [to H1N1]. Fellows had some out and the middle school also had as many out as we did," McGrory said. Though there have been misgivings, hand sanitizer seems to have helped to keep the students of Ames High healthier this year, and has not been an obvious cause of any illness among the students. It seems we should all take a page out of KiD CuDi’s book.