EMOTIONAL ESSAY LIGHTS D.A.R.E. GRADUATION

A Cherry Valley Student Overcomes Nervousness to Deliver a Powerful
Message.

CHERRY VALLEY -- Teachers don't always know what will spark their
students, but sometimes the evidence comes in folded pieces of paper.

Such was the case for Christina St. Junious.

About a week ago, she pulled an essay from her pocket and nervously
stood in front of her fifth-grade classmates at Cherry Valley
Elementary School.

The 11-year-old was so nervous that other students had to put their
heads down on their desks as she read.

On Thursday night at Tebala Shrine Temple, Christina stood in the
spotlight on stage before a packed house at her D.A.R.E. graduation.
In a brand-new dress and her hair freshly done, Christina again read
her essay. No one had to put their heads down.

What sparked Christina was writing about something she witnesses, the
harmful effect of drugs. She penned the essay in less than two hours
the night before it was due. The essay won top honors in her class.

"We can't always change as much as we want," teacher Kayla Lischka
said of students' sometimes rough experiences outside the classroom.

But, there are nights to shine.

Teachers ensured Christina, whose family lacks solid transportation,
made her D.A.R.E. -- which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education
- -- graduation and got to read her work. Lischka spent last weekend
with her young student, arranging a dress and shoes.

Christina said her essay came out of what she has seen on the streets
in her neighborhood.

She said she has seen people on the streets doing drugs, selling
drugs, selling material possessions to get drugs. "It's wrong to see
people do that," Christina said.

The girl said she assumes these people take drugs to get away from a
rough life.

In her essay, she wrote: "You may think drugs will help to feel
better, but they will disintegrate you like salt in water."

She also wrote: "Drugs are like flies on a bleeding wound. They won't
go away."

Like about 75 of her classmates, Christina has spent the past 17 weeks
in a once-a-week D.A.R.E. program. As the students prepare to leave
Cherry Valley behind for various middle schools, they pledge to be
drug free.

The program and D.A.R.E. Officer Dave Fiduccia appeared to especially
spark Christina, who admits she does not always hand in her
assignments on time. "Officer Fiduccia was a great man," said
Christina, who does not like to sit still and squirms in the spotlight.

Fiduccia stood with his arm around the girl as she read her essay to
more than 100 people at Thursday's graduation.

Lischka sat back and watched.

"I hope it's a good memory," she said.