STUDENTS DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

If teachers are born and not made, 100 Mile RCMP Const. Tara Merrie
definitely has what it takes.

Although it was the first time she taught the 10-week course, all 31
of her Grade 5 Horse Lake Elementary students passed the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education (DARE) program with flying colours.

Merrie said she is "very proud" of the students and cannot wait to get
back into a classroom in September.

"I absolutely loved it; it was very rewarding. The children asked very
honest questions and they were extremely interactive," she added.
Merrie said she was amazed by the responses she received from parents.

"Parents thank me and say, 'You have really made a difference,'" she
said, adding the course has opened up lines of communication as
students want to talk to their parents about what they learned at school.

The key to her teaching success appears to be her sense of humour and
it was evident at the May 11 graduation ceremonies.

Merrie spoke after significantly taller principal Marty McClusky. As
she lowered the microphone towards her mouth, she quipped: "I guess
this is why they call me mini-Mountie."

Students thought she was both fun and funny and that's OK with her as
long as she gets the DARE message across to her young charges.

This drug prevention education program is designed to equip students
with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse and skills
for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

McClusky made a poignant point during his introduction when he told
assembled parents they run DARE in Grade 5 because, sadly, by the time
students get to Grade 8, it's already too late as they have already
been approached about trying drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

Meghan Montgomery said she enjoyed the course because students got to
play a lot of "fun games and we learned about tobacco and stuff, and
not to do it when we're older."

Noting her grandpa is trying to quit smoking, Meghan said she is going
to encourage him to keep trying because she wants him to be around to
watch her grow up.

"I really like the DARE T-shirts we got, too. They're really
cool."

Although he also thought the course was fun, Sebastian Riley had a
more philosophical approach to what he learned.

"I thought it was a very good influence on kids to get them to not do
drugs and alcohol when they're older," he said.

Sebastian added the most fun thing for him was using the DARE
decision-making model which aims at helping youth resist peer pressure
to experiment with drugs, tobacco or alcohol.

"If somebody tries to get me into it, you can just ignore them or just
say 'no' and give them a fact about what bad stuff smoking does," he
said, adding Const. Merrie was fun to have as a teacher.

Jesse Chamberlain said he was surprised to learn about all the bad
chemicals in tobacco.

He enjoyed doing the work-sheets and coming up with questions for
Merrie to answer.

"She was really funny and made us laugh a lot," he said.

Three students -- Caitlin Bonter, Courtney Hendley and Lauren Runge --
had their essays selected as the best of the class and read them aloud
to appreciative family members gathered for the ceremonies.

Regan Bishop provided welcoming honours while Karly Kremsner and Emma
Cockram thanked all those who made the program a success and Coun.
Brenda Loyer handed diplomas and certificates to the graduates.

Other graduates include Kaitlynn Bexton, Chase Bossley, Paul Brand,
Sarah Bruckner, Anika Buurmeester, Emma Cockram, Rachel Dickie, Devin
Dunkel, Kelsey Ervin, Colbie Halpin, Connor Knopf, Joshua Laplante,
Michael Lervik, Cory Livingston, Graysen Marsh, Cayla McCready, John
Newstead, Amber Parker, Clarissa Parma, Isabell Pavlik, Colton Ray,
Josslyn Ryan and Stephanie Salzbrenner.