EGPD DAREs kids to make responsible choices
The well-known D.A.R.E. program was brought back to the Robert Blue Middle School curriculum six years ago when Captain Garrett Quintus from the Eagle Grove Police Department started talking to fifth-graders about making safe and responsible decisions. Last year, the program was taken over by EGPD Officer Leland Williams. While last year’s class was unable to complete the program because of COVID, RBMS is happy that this year’s group completed the course and even got to hold a graduation ceremony on Tuesday, April 6 during classroom hours.
Years ago when the D.A.R.E. program was first taught in school (it took a several-year hiatus when the teaching officer left), it focused mainly on “Just Say No” to drugs and alcohol. Today, unfortunately, there is a whole new world of obstacles for pre-teen students to face every day. That’s why the D.A.R.E. program has expanded to include a much wider base of topics, helping students learn how to handle many types of stressful situations.
Social media has presented a whole new world of peer pressure for today’s students that their parents and grandparents didn’t have. Peer pressure, bullying, and temptations are no longer limited to school hours. The internet now makes it possible to be surrounded by it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
D.A.R.E. helps kids Define, Access, Respond, and Evaluate a situation, whatever that might be…drugs, alcohol, tobacco, peer pressure, social media, etc.
Define: The first thing one must do when faced with a difficult decision is define or identify the problem.
Access: Once they know exactly what the problem is, they can take a look at the choices available to them. It’s important to weigh the pros and cons of all possibilities.
Respond: Making a choice based on their best assessment of the situation comes next. How will they respond to the scenario they are facing? Will they do what’s right….or what’s easiest?
Evaluate: Finally, there is an opportunity to evaluate how they handled a particular situation. Would they do it again next time? Did they make a mistake? Have they learned anything from their choice?
D.A.R.E. is a way to provide youth with real-life information and give them the tools to learn the skills necessary for safe and responsible decision-making in all aspects of life. Over the course of the 10-week training session in school, those scenarios covered more difficult choices, and hopefully since completing the course students will now be able to better assess the situation and make the smartest choice.
At their graduation ceremony, Williams told the kids he hoped they had fun in class, but also that they will take with them the skill sets of how to handle stressful situations when they arise, making the right decisions for themselves as well as the people around them.
As part of the D.A.R.E. program, each student was asked to write an essay about three things they learned during the course. Three winners (one from each class period) were chosen as winners and asked to read their essays during the graduation ceremony. Those winners included Lola Kreitlow who asked her peers to imagine skipping school because of the way people treated you or wanting you to take bad drugs; Taytum Edwards who focused her essay on learning how to confidently communicate in order to avoid smoking, drinking, and vaping; and Allison Roberts who wrote in her essay that she thought “D.A.R.E. was an amazing experience. These three will have their essays submitted to a national D.A.R.E. competition where one winner will be selected to travel for free with their parents to the upcoming D.A.R.E. conference.
All of the students who completed the course work received a certificate and a D.A.R.E. T-shirt.
Unfortunately, because of COVID, family and friends were not able to be in attendance to help their students celebrate. However, the kids were excited to be able to have a two-day celebration as they got to enjoy graduation cake with their lunch the next day, on Wednesday, April 7.
The hope of the D.A.R.E. program is that it will not only strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and students, but also get ahead of problems before they could potentially occur. Teaching them how to handle tough situations before they happen is a benefit to everyone.
