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Health & Fitness

What is D.A.R.E?

Our 6th grade DARE Graduations took place at Turkey Hill, Peck Place, and Race Brook the week before vacation.

 

Kayla, a student in Miss Hart’s 6th grade classroom, took the microphone at Turkey Hill School to read her essay aloud to the small crowd gathered in the all-purpose room.   

“What is D.A.R.E?” she began, and then followed-up by answering her own question.  “DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education… where 6th graders learn to make good choices and not do anything we are not supposed to do. For example, Officer [John] Aquino teaches us … not to smoke tobacco or smoke marijuana. We also learn about alcohol and not to have it since we are only 11-12 years old and you have to be 21 to drink alcohol.” 

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Kayla, representative of all of our DARE graduates, was poised and determined. Across three days, February 14 – 16th, our 6th graders participated in their DARE graduation and one-by-one shook the hands of Officer Aquino, their school principal, and many other town dignitaries. 

During the ceremony, they also listened to their friends read essays which had won the DARE essay contest and viewed a slideshow of their classmates in the DARE program – all of which I am going to try to capture here with somewhat the same degree of excitement and enthusiasm as permeated the auditoriums on those days. 

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There was great music, a delicious array of desserts, parent involvement, community support, evidence of student achievement, faces filled with pride, a sense of celebration – all of the things that earmark a successful program.

From her own personal perspective, Emmy read, “Another skill I have learned in DARE is to say no to negative peer pressure. Positive peer pressure is good, but negative may seem cool now, except in twenty years it will sneak up on you!  Just like someone I know who had a friend who was pressured to go out on mischief night and ended up getting arrested. Now it is on his permanent record and he may not get into the college of his dreams.” 

The students shared a lot of facts: alcohol can kill brain cells; it slows down your body and can even cause a coma alcohol causes increased risk of injury in everything you do alcohol makes some people more violent and causes car accidents smoking causes cancer and respiratory problems nicotine is added to cigarettes to make smoking addictive more than 400,000 American die from tobacco-related causes each year most adults who smoke started when they were a kid marijuana distorts your vision and your coordination and lowers your blood pressure there is more tar in marijuana smoke than in tobacco smoke.

During their classes, the students learned a decision-making model and practiced it through role-playing and simulations. 

They donned vision impairment goggles (which simulate being under the influence) and attempted simple routine tasks such as tying their shoes.  They talked about the prevalence of alcohol in popular culture. 

As Kayla wrote, “[Alcohol] advertisements are literally EVERYWHERE!  On kids’ toys, painted on buildings… even on babies’ bibs.   This is out of control!” 

Her words reminded me of a popular song by Katy Perry (Last Friday Night) that my grandchildren like because it has a great beat and is ‘sing-able’; in fact, my 10-year-old grandson knows every word:  “Last Friday night / Yeah we danced on tabletops / And we took too many shots / Think we kissed but I forgot / Last Friday night / Yeah we maxed our credit cards / And got kicked out of the bar / So we hit the boulevard / Last Friday night / Yeah I think we broke the law / Always say we're gonna stop-op / Whoa-oh-oah / This Friday night / Do it all again / This Friday night / Do it all again.”  The idea that 'having fun' means ‘under-the influence’ is everywhere – reality TV, serial TV, sports program advertising, and so on. 

I’m grateful Officer Aquino points that out to our children; I’m grateful he provides counter-messages that hopefully our students will recall well into their teens. About four years ago, I worked on a project with another district’s ‘Communityof Concern: Substance Abuse Council’. 

Through a very extensive student survey, it became apparent that there were patterns in the habits of the parents and guardians who were raising the survey’s ‘safest’ teens (i.e. those students less likely to smoke, drink, ride in cars with people who were under the influence, binge or purge, try drugs, misuse prescription drugs, etc.). 

Those patterns of prevention are worth remembering as our 6th graders move up into the middle school: Eat one meal per day with your children. Know where your children are, and with whom, when they are not at home. Set clear rules about the use of alcohol and drugs.

Become more aware of your children’s stress levels and more informed about stress reduction. Help your student become involved in civic organizations and volunteering in the community. Limit the amount of unorganized time your children spend ‘hanging out with friends.’

Officer Aquino, and the Orange Police Department, care very much about our children, and the D.A.R.E program is just one example of their commitment to our kids' well-being and safety.

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