STUDENTS LEARN TO RESIST PRESSURE

Drug And Alcohol Avoidance Program Helps Decision-Making

Powell River RCMP members are daring youngsters to adopt drug-free
lifestyles.

A group of grade five James Thomson Elementary School students was
recently awarded for participation in the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) program. Powell River RCMP Constable Kerri Chard said
DARE is a comprehensive prevention education program designed to equip
school children with skills to recognize and resist social pressures
to experiment with tobacco, alcohol, other drugs, plus violence.

"This unique program utilizes uniformed law enforcement officers to
teach a formal curriculum to students in a classroom setting," she
said. "DARE gives special attention to fifth grade students to prepare
them for entry into intermediate and high school, where they are most
likely to encounter pressure to use drugs."

Chard said DARE officers undergo 80 hours of special training in areas
such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques
and communication skills.

"I enjoy being involved with the DARE program and working with young
students," she said. "I prefer a proactive approach to policing by
teaching drug awareness and providing young people with
decision-making skills to be used when they encounter other pressures.
The program also covers bullying and violence."

Chard has been presenting the DARE program to students in Powell River
for approximately three years. She said Powell River is fortunate to
have three trained DARE officers. Constables Chris Bakker and Nichole
Park also teach the program.

Chard said during this school year, approximately 150 students in
School District 47 have participated or are currently participating in
the program.

Students taking the DARE program go through a series of lessons. In
the first, students are introduced to the DARE program and the DARE
decision-making model. Students practice skills used in
decision-making and reflect on their learning in their DARE planner.

The second lesson focuses on beliefs about the use of tobacco by
youth. Tobacco facts are used to design tobacco-warning labels, which
are shared with the class.

In the third lesson, students apply tobacco and marijuana facts in a
variety of situations using the DARE decision-making model. Students
are introduced to the purpose of advertising and journal entries
reinforce discussions of the effects tobacco has on the body.

The fourth lesson is entitled Alcohol and You. Students work through a
normative belief activity about the use of alcohol by youth.

Students are given the opportunity to examine alcohol ads and apply
their learning in a relay race in the fifth lesson. Inhalants and
their dangers are examined.

In teams, students examine friendship and peer pressure in situational
dilemmas using the DARE decision-making model in the sixth session.

The seventh lesson comprises students working with partners to apply
assertiveness skills.

Student teams practice decision-making skills as they examine the role
of personal peer pressure in their lives in lesson eight.

Students have the opportunity to apply assertive refusal skills along
with facts in a spiraling competition in their last formal classroom
setting.

During graduation students are given the opportunity to make a public
statement about their choices to resist drugs and violence in a group
assembly. Students receive DARE graduation certificates and celebrate
their accomplishments.