EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATORS: FRIENDLY MESSAGE FINDS FAVOR

Deputy Has Won Fans For Work With Students

Words To Live By

Elkhart County Patrolman Craig Polachek thanks a class at Oxbow
Elementary School for their hard work in the D.A.R.E. program.Photo:
Fred Flury / The Truth

Craig Polachek dares anyone to change his beliefs about Drug Abuse
Resistance Education.

A recent D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony at a local elementary school
was clearly a big deal to the students, teachers and many parents in
attendance. As students entered the assembly room, there was a
happy, expectant tension.

Later, it became clear this was because Polachek, an officer with
Elkhart County Sheriff's Department who teaches the D.A.R.E. program
in several schools, is admired and respected by the students he
dares to resist drugs.

Several students all competed to answer questions about Polachek.

"He's cool!"

"He's fun!"

"He gave us all nicknames ..."

This seemed especially important to these students, also variously
known as "Einstein," "Snowman," "Socks," "Sunshine Head" and "Holmes."

Most telling was the answer to the question, "Why will you remember
what he taught you five years from now?" The response came with
surprising intensity and seriousness, "Because he taught us."

The mutual respect between students and teacher/officer is the key
element in the apparent success of Polachek's work.

"Police aren't always able to make friends with kids," Polachek told
the graduates. "I'm so glad you are my friends."

Sara Hetler, a parent at the D.A.R.E. ceremony who saw her third
child complete the program with Polachek, said, "I have two older
daughters. One is a sophomore, one an eighth grader. They still talk
about the classes they had with him."

This ongoing influence witnesses to something else Polachek said to
the students. "There is a final test, for this (D.A.R.E.) class. It
is one you will take many times. Can you live drug free? Not just
today, but when you are in high school, and later, when you are
adults? Can you set the standards? Can you boldly change the
attitudes of those around you?"

As part of the course, students write essays about what they learn.
Comments from those essays reveal amazing anecdotes, as well as insight:

* "... Two guys asked us to smoke a cigarette. Because of D.A.R.E.,
it (sic) gave me the strength to say NO to them ..."

* "With all this information, I am sure I will be able to make the
right decisions."

Another graduate spoke articulately about her experiences with her
D.A.R.E. teacher -- Polachek. "It was really good. He told us
specific things about what drugs will do. He added humor. We acted
things out, like how it would be like if a drug dealer came to us.
He went over it a lot and made sure we knew."

Polachek was asked about the ongoing success, or non-success, of the
D.A.R.E. program.

After many years, there is still a definite drug problem in our
community. His response was clear and passionate. "It is as if there
was a big pile of garbage in our midst. D.A.R.E. is one way of
taking it out. Others keep bringing it in. If we weren't working to
take it out, that pile of garbage would only keep getting bigger," he said.

"I tell the kids that if they have to make choices. If they see
their dad smoking, it doesn't mean he's a bad guy," Polachek said.
"But it also doesn't mean they have to make the same choice."