MACVILLE CELEBRATES WITH PROUD DARE GRADUATES

Daring to resist drugs and violence, Grade 6 students at several
Caledon schools celebrated the completion of a 10-week anti-drug and
violence education series during D.A.R.E. graduation ceremonies last week.

Donning black T-shirts with the letters D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse
Resistance Training) scrolled across the front, 34 Macville Public
School students performed skits and songs in front of parents,
teachers and special guests including Caledon OPP Detachment
Commander Inspector Andy Karski on December 13.

The prevention education D.A.R.E. initiative, first introduced in the
United States some 23 years ago, teaches elementary school children
how to recognize and resist social pressures to experiment with
alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and violence.

"They need to know what this stuff (drugs and alcohol) is and what it
can do to them," OPP Constable Gord Van der Grinten, who teaches the
curriculum in classrooms across Caledon, told parent and family
guests during the graduation.

Although some parents may have been surprised and even shocked to
hear their children come home talking about "crystal meth," marijuana
and cocaine, Van der Grinten says Grade 6 students are chosen to
learn the anti-drug and violence education because, "they're young
enough that they haven't got into the bad vices yet and they're
mature enough to know about it (drugs and violence) and to learn ways
to say no."

The programme aims to educate Grade 6 students across the province
before they head off to high school, where they will most likely
encounter peer pressure to use drugs.

"Because of what I've learned in D.A.R.E. I choose never to use
marijuana," said D.A.R.E. graduate Laura Jansons. "Because of what
I've learned in D.A.R.E. I know my choices will be good choices."

Following the ceremony, students were awarded graduation certificates
for their hard work over the last 10 weeks by Van der Grinten along
with Caledon trustee Valerie Arnold-Judge and D.A.R.E. sponsor Bob
Fines from Fines Ford Lincoln.

"The programme not only benefits our children, but it benefits our
community," Inspector Karski told the recent graduates' parents. "I
challenge you to continue the conversations that you've been having
with your children over the past 10 weeks as they move onto the next
steps in their lives."

Student Jordan Tater summed up the messages he learned during the
programme saying, "If someone ever tries to get you to do drugs, you
need to look them in the eye and say 'no' with confidence."