STUDENTS DARE TO BE AWARE

Last Wednesday the News Leader joined Mr. Miller's Grade 5 Class at
Vermilion Forks Elementary School for their 1:00 PM DARE Class.

It wasn't what we expected.

First, a little history. In 1994 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
embarked on a National program which targeted youth within Canadian
communities in an attempt to educate them in regards to drugs in all
their components.

DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was designed
in 1983 by a Police Chief in Los Angeles who's son fell victim to the
drug underworld.

DARE is a school-based drug and violence prevention program, taught to
elementary school children by specially trained uniformed law
enforcement officers.

DARE's ultimate goal is to provide children with alternative choices
and options when dealing with peer pressures that they face every day.
The program not only challenges the youth, but provides them with
personal tools and insight which assists them in making healthy
lifestyle choices.

The DARE program has been called an amazing tool that has been
incredibly effective throughout 56 countries benefitting over
36-million children.

Locally, Princeton RCMP received input during their environmental
scanning process that identified drugs as Princeton's number one
concern for the past three years.

"The members of the Princeton RCMP have undertaken significant
pro-active measures to help combat this problem." says Princeton RCMP
Detachment Commander Sgt. Kurt Lozinski.

"However, enforcement is only part of the solution. Studies have shown
that a healthy balance of enforcement and education is the only
effective way to deal with this issue."

In 2003 the Princeton Detachment lost its two trained DARE Officers
due to transfers. This is a problem most police detachments face and
also affected how the education element was delivered in Keremeos area
schools.

In November 2005, Cst. Mike Leiding from the Princeton RCMP Detachment
successfully completed training and became qualified to become the
Princeton DARE Instructor.

The DARE program was reintroduced in Princeton schools in January of
this year.

There are currently 48 Grade 5 students in Vermilion Forks Elementary
taking the program along with Grade 1's at John Allison Elementary and
Hedley Primary School bringing the total close to 100 children
actively participating in the DARE 10 Lesson structure.

Cst. Leiding describes the program in a single sentence.

"It is about drugs, but it gives kids lifeskills and the proper skills
to handle things and situations that come their way."

He is also happy with the response.

"The DARE Program is up and running and it's going
great."

The program includes a partnership with Princeton and District Drug
and Alcohol Counselor Paul Huycke and revolves around common sense
solutions to everyday peer pressures.

"It gives them (the students) the tools to make healthy lifestyle
choices," Leiding adds.

It sounded interesting enough for us to sit through the hour long
lesson last week.

Mr. Miller's Grade 5's are a curious bunch we discover when Cst.
Leiding pulls a few questions out of the 'DARE Box' - a colourfully
decorated box where open questions can be submitted anonymously by
class members.

The short period of time it takes to answer the questions also allows
everyone in the room time to settle down and get prepared for the
week's lesson.

The first question out of the DARE box is 'Have you ever shot a guy
before?'

Leiding responds by saying he hasn't and hopes he doesn't have
to.

The second questions is 'What made you become a police
officer?'

The answer revolved around family members involved in police work, "I
thought the job sounded incredibly interesting and I wanted to help
young kids."

Another question asks if he's made a drug bust.

"I love drug busts," Leiding says with enthusiasm and explains he was
able to make one recently as part of a traffic stop.

The last question - If smoking is bad for you, why are manufacturers
allowed to make cigarettes? - creates a classroom discussion where it
is decided that making money has got a lot to do with why some things
that may not seem right are allowed to happen.

Then Leiding leads the class into a short review of the previous DARE
Lesson on Inhalants, or as one student describes, "Drugs you can breath in."

Lesson #5 is titled Peer Pressure and Mr. Miller's Grade 5's explore
what qualities make a good friend in something identified as
Friendship Foundations.

The list from students included such important elements as being able
to keep secrets, loyalty, being nice and sharing some of the same interests.

One student added, "They listen to you."

Leiding liked that answer, "That's actually the one I was waiting
for," he said and then asked the class about how it feels when someone
in a conversation isn't really listening.

"When they are listening to you that means they are connecting with
you and that is a good thing."

The students were then asked to look in their workbooks to the page
that outlined what was called a Friendship Circle - places where you
make friends - with suggestions including at church, school, through
sporting activities, clubs, etc.

"We also know what does not constitute a friend," Leiding offered and
the class listed ways of identifying someone who is not a friend.

The lesson moved into Peer Pressure, which a student described as,
"When someone you know tries to pressure you to do something you don't
want to do."

"Not all peer pressure is wrong," Leiding stated and gave examples of
positive peer pressure and reminded students they should have the DARE
Decision-making Model in mind - more on that later.

"You need to have some choices in your head and be able to have an
answer," he told them.

"It'll make it easier to make the right decision."

Leiding then read a short story about some kids being offered
cigarettes from an acquaintance. This lead to a discussion on what
would the students do if they were in that situation.

This was a time to exercise the DARE Decision-making model to help the
students determine what to do.

It's a pretty simple concept where young people facing a situation
where they need to come up with the right decision can turn for help.

The first element is 'DEFINE' - in this instance the problem was being
facing with smoking.

Next is 'ASSESS' - or what choices are available for possible
responses.

Third is 'RESPOND' - making a responsible response, one that can be
backed up ("No, I don't want a smoke because it can kill me" for example).

Last is 'EVALUATE' - did you react in the right manner? If so,
why?

"It helps you think about it before you have to do anything and
hopefully you'll do the right thing," Leiding says about the DARE model.

The lesson ended with an exercise asking each student to describe, in
their workbooks, what peer pressure feels like to them.

Then the floor was given to Princeton and District Drug and Alcohol
Counselor Paul Huycke.

We picked the right day to sit in on a DARE Class. Huycke explained he
had started smoking at the age of 11 and although he quit 30 years
ago, the damage to his lungs had already been done.

Huycke has emphysema - a chronic lung disease often caused by
smoking.

He described how quickly he ends up short of breath and how much it
bothers him to not be able to do things he used to.

Then he shared his collection of visual aids with the class -
encapsulated human lungs - some with cancer, some with other problems
resulting from smoking.

The visuals worked very well in hammering home the importance of not
smoking.

The DARE Program in Princeton would not be possible without the
generous support of numerous local businesses and individuals.

The list includes Dairy Queen, Sparetime Holdings, Doug's Homestead,
Stevens & Stevens, Princeton Co-Gen Corporation, Peoples Pharmacy,
Stan Turner, The Source, Princeton Lions Club, Ponderosa Motel, Kal
Tire, Town of Princeton, Century 21 Princeton Realty and the Princeton
Hospital Auxiliary.

If your child is taking the DARE Program, ask them what they are
learning and encourage them to share with you the messages they are
picking up in the program.

The Grade 5's will receive t-shirts in a Graduation following the
completion of the tenth lesson in the series.

The ceremony is tentatively set for mid-April.