PIPESTONE STUDENTS TAKE ON DARE

A student answers questions from the audience during her DARE grad.

Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser -- Tucked away in sylvan remoteness,
Pipestone School made it's DARE grad different.

"We'll wing it. If we perfected it, someone would be out of step.
Read what you want us to hear. Say what's in your heart," said Const.
Richard Huculiak in response to the kid's request for a dress
rehearsal of their Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduation.

"One shirt. One pin. Wear it proudly," Huculiak said as he
distributed the de rigueur DARE uniform.

He later delighted the class with a hand-drawn, aerial picture of the
Pipestone gym on the whiteboard, which turned out looking like a
face. Filled with energy like bees in a beehive, the 16 graduates
even collected autographs from fellow classmates on the back of their programs.

Then it was time for the 16 youngsters to parade into the gymnasium.
Parent Lorenda Stokes, mother of Kyale, confirmed her son talked
about the program a lot in their Leduc county home.

"He's been exposed to the dangers more than I can explain. He has a
strong view. He would go out of his way to deter others from doing
drugs. We own property in Edmonton. He spends time near Grant MacEwan
College. There's good areas and bad areas. He's seen how people get
deteriorated by drugs."

Other students learned the darker side of drugs, too. They may look
like candy, all shiny and pretty, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

"If I respond to drug dealers, it'll be with a cold shoulder," said
one student. "What I got from this program was more than a T-shirt,
but a life lesson," said another.

A kid made this reporter smile as she put herself in the "rational"
mind of the drug addict.

"Maybe I should sell the couch and the TV (to afford my fix)," she said.

Then it was the parents' turn to pepper the young scholars with questions.

"What do you do to prevent friends from slipping something into your
drink?" asked one parent.

The kids replied they're not your friend if they do and "to never
leave a drink unattended."

The other graduates were Erik Benson, Rochelle Brittain, Shannon
Callahan, Julian Chinnery, Sarah Cline, Amanda Filan, Austin
Gaehring, William Kaiser, Lindsey Knull, Zachary Martens, Stephen
Ricard, Raelene Smolley, Lindsay Soitice, Julia Vos and Jessica Whieldon.