CLAY STUDENTS TELL OTHERS WHAT THEY LEARNED IN DARE PROGRAM

When Clay County sixth-grade students participate in the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program, they learn about the dangers of drugs.
But over the course of the 17-week program, conducted by the Clay
County Sheriff's Office, they also learn how to say no to drugs and
violence and handle peer pressure. Here is what some of the students
who have completed the program have to say about DARE:

Amanda Youell

Lake Asbury

DARE has taught me that I have choices to make in my life to stay
drug-free and violence-free. I have learned that there are
consequences for bad decisions and there will always be peer pressure
on me to do the wrong thing. I have learned that I have a right to be
safe, happy, to learn, to be respected and to be treated fairly.

I know I'm special. I know that all children are special. It is
important to be drug-free. What would you do with your life if you did
drugs? You couldn't fit into society and your only friends were drug
users, like you.

I know I don't have to be in a gang to be cool or popular. I also know
I don't have to do drugs to fit in or be happy. Besides, I'm happy
with who I am now.

Remember that you have your own decisions to make and they're yours
and no one else's. Make the right decision.

DARE to say no to drugs and violence.

Amber Graves

S.B. Jennings

I promise to say no to drugs. I promise this to my family and friends.
I can do this by staying in a good buddy system and choosing the right
friends. Also, by getting involved in school activities and community
service.

You should always make promises that you can keep because if you
can't, people can lose faith in you and you won't be able to make your
own goals. If you break a promise, then you are too lazy to make your
dreams come true.

Those who don't care, can't keep promises. Those who don't care, try
to get away from problems that are trailing behind them and they do
that with drugs. They really don't leave their problems behind, it
just causes more and you just run right back into the problems you're
running away from.

If you or I start drugs, then we let down our family and friends and
the little ones. So let's keep this promise. If you can't keep other
promises, keep this one. Please, this could mean your very life.

I'm going to be drug-free because I can, No. 1, keep my friends; No.
2, I will live longer; and No. 3, I will live up to my goal and that
is to be an astronaut.

Shelley Casselman

Ridgeview

The way I feel about the DARE program is very strong. I think this
program gives everyone confidence to understand how harmful drugs and
tobacco products can be to us. I hope everyone listened to what an
officer had to say and takes this information to their everyday life
in the future.

Through the DARE program, I have learned that drugs can put a harmful
effect on you and make you hurt yourself or others. Violence, I know
everyone should avoid. Violence could not only hurt two or three
people, but everyone that's around. I've learned that violence is
destructive action that is directed toward people and things, both
living and non-living. This means violence could be put on animals,
people and others' property.

I think it is important to be drug-free and avoid violence because
both could cause you harm and put you in a bad position. First, drugs
could give you lung cancer, slow reflexes, bad health, could also hurt
family and friends and kill brain cells. Last, violence could make you
get in trouble and hurt yourself and/or others. This is what I learned
in the DARE program, thanks to an officer.

Leah Caldwell

Doctors Inlet

With the DARE program I have set major goals! Goals of life! This
program has taught me lessons throughout the year. With this program,
it will not only help me out through the year, but also throughout my
life.

>From this program I will always look back when someone is trying peer
pressure to get me to do something I'd rather not do. I will look back
and say, "NO!" I have my own personal rights. I will not go through
the drug tunnel but the goal tunnel to live my life with my dreams and
not my nightmares!

I feel the DARE program is the best way to tell kids to say no to
drugs and violence. DARE is not only a way to get away from drugs but
it is a fun way to get us to make the millennium kids clear from
drugs, clear from violence, clear from death!

I think being drug-free is important because drugs don't get you good
money or great jobs. I'll tell you where it gets you. Nowhere! That's
where. No good grades nor a good job! Maybe even death! Once it gets
you there you can never forgive yourself; neither your friends nor
family. They will all look back and say, "Why? Why didn't I recognize
the drugs he/she was taking? Why didn't I help?"

James Kearse

Middleburg Elementary

I want to talk to you about how I feel about the DARE program. First
of all, I think that the DARE program is an excellent program because
it teaches you how to say, "No To Drugs" and it teaches you how to
avoid violence. Also, you can learn what happens to people.

I learned that I should say "no" if anyone offers me drugs because
drugs are really harmful. Also drugs can cause death and several kinds
of diseases, such as lung cancer and heart disease.

It is very important for me to be drug-free and avoid violence because
I have set certain goals in my life which require that I am able to
function mentally and physically. If I use drugs or be violent I will
not be able to accomplish my goals. Drugs and violence can cause a
person to get arrested, die at an early age and can mess up a person's
life.

I am going to stay drug free and avoid violence by saying, "No" and by
walking away from trouble. If I accomplish this goal, then I will
avoid getting arrested and avoid dying at an early age, and I will
also avoid messing up my life.

Ashli Midgett

McRae Elementary

DARE has taught me many things. First, I want to show you some ways to
say, "NO" to drugs. If someone asked me if I wanted drugs, I would try
to tell them kindly that I don't want them. One way is to change the
subject.

I also learned about gangs. Our Dare officer told us two stories about
two little boys. One taught me good reasons not to join a gang. The
other just plain out broke my heart. I think the DARE program is a
very good program to be a part of. Avoiding violence means you have a
better chance of living. Avoiding drugs means the same thing. . . . so
don't do drugs and please avoid violence for your sake, your family's
sake and even your friends' sake. That concludes my reasons why I
choose to be drug and violent free. I'm sorry I don't have more time
to write anymore. Bye.

Jordan Joiner

Paterson Elementary

I don't think the DARE program is the answer to keeping kids from
doing drugs, but it's a start! My parents have always taught me that
drugs are bad for you, but the DARE program has taught me how to say
no.

I think it's important to stay drug-free because if you get involved
with drugs it can take a perfectly good life and ruin it.

I am the youngest of three children. As a child that's seven years
younger than my oldest sibling, I've watched him and his friends go
through many changes. But the story I'd like to tell is not really
about my brother, but his childhood friend. He came from a great
family just like my brother did. He played football just like my
brother did. He made straight A's just like my brother wished he did.
He even went to Paterson and had the best teachers just like my
brother did. But according to my brother, his friend just didn't know
how to say no to drugs. My brother told me that his friend tried drugs
in sixth grade. I asked him why he didn't just say no. And my brother
said he just wanted to look cool.

Parents, teachers and DARE counselors have all taught us of the
dangers of drugs. Although it's very important to just say no, kids
need to be taught how hard it is to stand alone. If you're in a crowd
where all of your friends are pushing you to try drugs, then you'll
have to stand alone or face the peer pressure. I think kids need to
know how important it is to choose friends that stay away from drugs
so you won't have to stand alone.

My brother's friend had to stand alone when he was expelled from
school. He had to stand alone when he was kicked out of his parents'
house. And he had to stand alone when he went to prison.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I want to be drug free .
. . just like my brother.