CANON CITY STUDENTS TOUT ANTI-DRUG EFFORT

CANON CITY - When Robin Basham was in fifth grade, her parents were
getting a divorce and she needed someone to lean on.

The person she felt most comfortable talking to was her teenage role
model whom she had gotten to know through Drug Abuse Resistance
Education classes at school.

"I tended to cling to her. It was so cool to have someone to talk to
when I was lost and confused and I could ask her, ‘Did I do
this right?' " Basham, now 14, recalls.

"Now I have a chance to make a big difference and I want to do
that," Basham, a DARE role model, said.

Basham, a Canon City High School freshman, has been named Colorado's
first-ever representative to DARE International and her good friend,
Krista Limitone, 15, a sophomore, is an alternate.

After going through an intense selection process to win the two-year
appointment, Basham will begin a whirlwind tour of travel and
teaching, showing other DARE officers how Canon City's DARE program
has become the most successful in the nation.

"These girls are advisers to DARE International and Canon City is
the only place in the U.S. that has role models going to each
class," said Neal Tyler, Canon City DARE officer. "Colorado never
got involved before but these kids are going to run with it."

The girls kick off their responsibilities with an appearance at a
Denver Nuggets basketball game, then it is off to Tennessee for the
DARE International Conference, where they will tell up to 3,000 DARE
officers in attendance how the role model program works.

"I want to help other kids, not just in Colorado," Limitone said.

Simply put, DARE prepares fifth-grade youth for the inevitable
occasions when their peers will pressure them into trying drugs or alcohol.

"It gives them the confidence and ability to say no to drugs. DARE
prepared me when I got asked," Limitone said. "This program teaches
and educates you, especially about the consequences of your actions."

It is solid students like Basham and Limitone who make the DARE
program successful, Tyler said.

"When I started this program 14 years ago, it was a struggle to get
six kids to apply. Now the all-time record is 225 students who have
applied and it is the biggest service organization in the high
school," Tyler said.

Teachers like Mountain View Core Knowledge School fifth-grade
teacher Melissa Hammond see the first-hand effect of the program.
She said it goes beyond preparing students to resist drugs.

"For me, it is so much help to have the peers discussing, motivating
and keeping the kids on task. Their very presence is a very positive
thing because these kids look up to the high school students and see
them being that person that makes good choices," Hammond said.

Both Basham and Limitone are involved in a lot of other activities
as well. Both girls are involved with their church youth group as
well as Destination Imagination.

Basham has a big part in the school play M*A*S*H plus she plans to
sign up for choir next semester. Limitone is first-chair trumpet in
the school band.

DARE International duties will keep the girls very busy.

"It's like a lot of work but a lot of work builds character. I am
honored to have it and I'm not going to let anybody down," Basham said.

At the end of her two-year stint, Basham will have a one in 50
chance of getting a $20,000 college scholarship.