Being an adolescent or teenager in today’s society brings many different and tough choices for a young person. The Grade 6 students at Diamond Willow Middle school were honoured for completing a ten week Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (DARE) on March 13.
The DWMS gym was fill with parents, students and invited guests to watch approximately 50 students receive their DARE certificates and pins.
DWMS principal Larry Cook thinks that the program provides early intervention for the students and believes that the earlier they are aware of the dangers of drugs the better. He was pleased with the great community turnout.
“It’s nice to see the community involvement with the Deputy Major Doug Gill present, the Lacombe DARE officer showing supper and all the parents and relatives who came out,” said Cook. “It’s not just a school program but a community program.”
This was the seventh DARE program at DWMS and Grade 6 teacher Judy Yaro thinks that the program is very beneficial to the students and will help them make good choices throughout their life.
“They are very surprised with the facts including the smoking and drug facts,” said Yaro. “I think having this program for the kids is great and hopefully it will help them not be swayed by ads or peer pressure in the future.”
The 10 week program deals with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana health and legal affects, peer pressure and different ways of saying no. The students are also introduced to the DARE decision making program, which stands for define, assess, respond and evaluate.
DARE instructor Const. Ferlin Desjarlais from the Ponoka RCMP thinks that an important part of the program is to help them define the decision making program and help them look at the consequences of their actions.
“It’s to make kids aware of the facts on drugs and for them to help resist using drugs and make healthy choices,” said Desjarlais. “The DWMS kids responded very well. The school is very supportive and the students have been great.”