CHAMPS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUG ABUSE

New School Program Attacks Drugs On More Fronts Than DARE

Tim Carlfeldt

As he walks down a hallway at Gilbert Elementary School in LaFayette,
Deputy Terry Hambrick holds out his hand to receive high five from a
passing student.

"Wow! That felt like a firecracker," says the jovial bear of a man after
the slap, which brings a huge grin to the boy's face.

That kind of rapport makes it easy to see why Hambrick is the supervisor of
community affairs for the Walker County Sheriff's Department.

As such he oversees programs like Neighborhood Watch and the school
resource officers program. He is also in charge of a new program aimed at
educating students about safety, character development and life skills.

Photo: While Gilbert Elementary fifth-graders in his CHAMPS class look on,
Deputy Terry Hambrick tests the impaired skills of LaFayette High School
intern Rena Sims. She is wearing "Fatal Vision" goggles that simulate the
vision of a person under the influence of alcohol. (Messenger photo/Tim
Carlfeldt)

The program is called CHAMPS, for Choosing Healthy Activities and Methods
Promoting Safety. It is replacing the renowned Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, or DARE, program in Walker and 30 other Georgia counties.

What is CHAMPS?

The CHAMPS program was developed and started in five pilot counties by the
Georgia Sheriff's Association in 2004.

Hambrick and three other deputies are now teaching the new program in every
elementary school in Walker County, and he says it vastly expands on DARE's
foundation of drug abuse education.

"CHAMPS encompasses more life skills training," he said. "We have 20
modules in the program, ranging from how to deal with bullying and peer
pressure to things like gangs, and even Internet, boating and hunting safety."

Tonia Welch is training director for the Georgia Sheriff's Association and
the principal architect of the program. She says a big feature of CHAMPS is
its flexibility in school curriculums.

"The schools are able to select the lessons that are pertinent to their
students," she said, adding that CHAMPS uses visual aids and has more
student interaction and less of a "scripted" feel.

Welch said that in the fall of 2003 state budget cuts to the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation caused the DARE program to be cut from their administration.

While DARE is still in existence, Welch said, "The sheriff's know that
being in the school system is a very positive influence, and they were
afraid that (with the GBI out of the picture) they might lose this
community interaction with the kids."

Along with law enforcement officials and educators, Welch took on the
formation of the CHAMPS curriculum, and said she has received a lot of
positive feedback from school administrators.

CHAMPS is currently taught at the fifth-grade level, and Welch said the
plan is to develop a middle school curriculum within the next two years and
eventually one for high school students.

The local program

Gilbert Elementary principal Michael Tipton said he feels the move from
DARE to CHAMPS is the right direction.

"I feel great about it, and the kids are reacting great to Deputy
Hambrick," he said.

Hambrick, father of a sixth-grader, said funding the new program should
prove to be a better investment than DARE, if only for the freshness of the
material.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said he's confident and optimistic about
the CHAMPS program.

Wilson said that years ago drug education was funded partially through
grant money, but now the county budget provides for the cost through court
fines and property seizures.

Hambrick said, "Working with the school system, we'll be monitoring these
fifth-graders through the eight years until their graduation from high school."

Hambrick is a 17-year veteran of law enforcement and an ordained minister.
He sums up what he sees as the essence of how effective CHAMPS can be:
"These kids don't care how much you care until you show them how much you love."