ANTI-DRUG EFFORT BRANCHES OUT

Howell Teen Sets Up Mentorship Program

HOWELL- As Michigan's representative on the national Drug Abuse
Resistance Education Youth Advisory Board, Ashley Hoornstra will pilot
a new Peer Plus mentorship program in the state.

The 16-year-old Howell High School junior presented her plans to the
school board last month in preparation for the program kickoff Jan. 26
at the district's Highlander Way Middle School.

Twenty-five Highlander Way eighth-graders will be paired with 25 high
school student mentors for six weekly after-school meetings to
introduce the younger students to high school clubs and activities.

"The DARE program has two purposes," Hoornstra said. "It is an
introduction to the harmful effects drugs have on their bodies, but
DARE is also about giving students opportunities to help them avoid
drugs.

"Peer Plus will introduce them to drug-free opportunities they will
have in high school and it will surround them with mentors in the high
school who are drug free." Teachers will recommend students they
believe will benefit from the program, Hoornstra said.

Mentors will include the dozen high school role models already working
in the elementary DARE program. Their ranks will be augmented by new
mentors recommended by teachers.

Each of the weekly sessions will feature a different aspect of high
school life.

On Punk Day, school bands will perform and meet with the
middle-schoolers. Hoornstra has also planned Sports Day, Drama Day,
Music Day, Academic Day and a grand finale.

Hoornstra was inspired to organize the Peer Plus pilot at Howell after
spending a weekend in September at the Drug Enforcement Administration
training academy in Quantico, Va. One of the workshops she attended
presented ideas for a high school-middle school mentorship program.

She came up with her plan for the Howell Peer Plus program after
consulting with her school principal, Marge Hamill; Highlander Way
Principal Ann Anderson; and counselors Diana Houser and Cathy Literski.

"Any time you can bring a program into the school where
middle-schoolers can identify with positive role models and interact
with high school students who are being productive in the community,
those are the kinds of things kids need to have an investment in their
school career," Literski said.

"There's a correlation between kids who do well in school and those
who participate in extracurricular activities."

Hoornstra works closely with and is counseled by Howell Police
Department Officer Ken Taylor, who works 75 percent of his time on the
DARE program in Howell Public Schools. Taylor will be an adult mentor
for the Peer Plus program.

And Taylor will begin a DARE program for seventh-graders at Three
Fires Middle School this semester. He taught the DARE middle school
program for the first time at Highlander Way during fall semester.

He will teach the new seventh-grade program in addition to the 10-week
program he presents to all 700 fifth graders who attend elementary
school in the district. The DARE program began in 1983 in the Los
Angeles Police Department as a way to combat drug use among
schoolchildren.

In the mid- and late 1990s, the program came under fire.

Research published by the Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, the Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education and other
sources, including a 1999 University of Kentucky study funded by the
National Institutes of Health, reported that elementary students who
participated in DARE training were no less likely to take drugs than
students with no training.

Taylor said that DARE is extremely strong in Livingston County.
Officers from the Sheriff's Department work with other districts in
the county. Howell is the only county district with a full-time DARE
officer.

"DARE has always been an awareness program," Taylor said in response
to questions about the program's effectiveness.

"The information is put out to our fifth- and seventh-graders. All we
can do is let them know how dangerous drugs are - alcohol, tobacco and
marijuana.

"We work on building self-esteem, self-confidence, respect - everyday
aspects that make kids more aware and good citizens. The program
definitely needs to be in the middle schools."

Taylor said he runs his program on a budget of $7,000 to$10,000 a year
in addition to his salary, with 75 percent paid by the school
district. He uses a spring golf outing and a fall motorcycle run to
keep the program running.

Hoornstra will support her Peer Plus program with about $900 in
contributions from the high school and middle school site-based teams.

Hamill said after the Peer Plus project ends in March, the
administration will determine whether it was effective and how to improve it.

[sidebar]

'RETRO BILL' TO PERFORM

What: National DARE safety spokesman will speak on home safety, stranger
safety and stranger danger.

When: Three shows on May 21. The first show in the morning will be
presented to fifth graders, a second show will be presented to
seventh graders and a show for families will begin at 7 p.m.

Where: Howell High School auditorium, 1200 W. Grand River Ave.

Cost: Not yet determined.