DARE TO BE A BULLY

Gwynne students learn how to deal with situations thanks to RCMP Const.
Richard Huculiak's instruction

Don't bully fifth grader Sierra Zielke -- she's learned how to handle
herself thanks to the dedication of an RCMP instructor teaching the DARE
program.

"We talked about how to deal with a bully," Zielke said prior to Gwynne
School's inaugural DARE graduation.

Zielke was answering a reporter's question on what she learned under the
tutelage of Const. Richard Huculiak, who has taught DARE for more than four
years.

"Give the (bully) the cold shoulder," said Zielke, who was among 14 fifth
graders and five kids in Grade 6 taking the 17-week program.

Contrary to popular belief, bullying occurs more often at school than on
the way to and from there. Once thought of as simply a rite of passage or
relatively harmless behaviour that helps build young people's character,
bullying is now known to have long-lasting harmful effects, for both the
victim and the bully.

"Girls can be bullies, too," added Zielke. "Boys might be physical, but
girls are subtle and will isolate another girl they start rumours."
Fellow fifth grader Melanie Yeo concurred with her classmate on how to deal
with a bully, male or female.

"You have the power to walk away avoid the confrontation."

DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Huculiak and other
instructors usually spend a few hours each week in the classroom going over
a set program initially introduced to students in Los Angles in 1983. DARE
instructors arm kids shy of entering junior high with weapons of knowledge
and confidence to "just say no."

Doing the DARE program is also a break for the students from their teacher,
but they are still learning.

"The program is all new to them," offered Huculiak. "It's a good
opportunity to go back to basics."

Huculiak, who arrived at the Wetaskiwin detachment a few months ago after
patrolling in Chilliwack, B.C., believes in a hands-on approach in the
classroom.

"There's role playing. You can only preach to them so much from a book. You
want to keep their attention."

With only 19 students to instruct, Huculiak liked the teacher-student ratio.

"You get to know them. You can see it in their eyes that the students enjoy
the instruction."

Huculiak believes in the DARE program and what the students obtain from
participating. While dealing with peer pressure, alcohol and drug use are
part of the lesson plan, Huculiak also stresses respect in and out of the
classroom. He is hopeful his DARE grads learned they can make positive
choices in life, and not be pressured into doing something they don't want
to do.

He went in on his off days from patrolling Wetaskiwin to ensure the kids
could hold a graduation ceremony prior to the Christmas break.

The veteran Mountie is direct in his approach to teaching -- he relates to
them, not shying away from the tough questions. The biggest question from
the class concerned alcohol.

"Believe it or not," he said, "they are concerned about their health and
what it can do to them. Everyone is a unique individual and have the power
to make their own choices."

Part of the program entails having the students write an essay about their
DARE knowledge. Students volunteered to read them in front of their peers,
parents and fourth graders who are a year away from enrolling in the same
program in Gwynne's gymnasium prior to Huculiak handing out his graduation
certificates.

"(The essay) gets the kids thinking how they can improve themselves," said
Huculiak. "The focus on the program (when it comes to drugs or alcohol) is
not on scare tactics."

There are changes to DARE in the United States, which is going high-tech,
interactive, and decision-model-based. Gleaming with the latest in
prevention science and teaching techniques, DARE is reinventing itself as
part of a major national research study that promises to help teachers and
administrators to cope with the thorny issues of school violence and
terrorism. Gone is the old-style approach to prevention in which an officer
stands behind a podium and lectures students in straight rows.

New DARE officers are trained as "coaches" to support kids who are using
research-based refusal strategies in high-stakes peer-pressure
environments. New DARE students of 2004 are getting to see for themselves
- -- via stunning brain imagery -- tangible proof of how substances diminish
mental activity, emotions, co-ordination and movement.

Mock courtroom exercises are bringing home the social and legal
consequences of drug use and violence.

"New DARE is setting the gold standard for the future," noted Charlie
Parsons, executive director of DARE America. "Prevention inside the 21st
Century school house will need to be effective, diverse, accountable and
mean more things to more people, particularly with the safety issues that
have emerged since Columbine and terrorist alerts."

With research showing that adolescents, in particular, need to be involved
in the learning process, experts shifted the focus in the new DARE
curriculum to include officer-facilitated work, discussion groups and
role-playing sessions.

The resulting "group dynamic" of the new DARE program encourages kids to
work together on assignments and think for themselves. DARE is about giving
kids the skills and information they need to make good life choices,
something Huculiak focused on during his time in the classroom at Gwynne
School.

Besides Yeo and Zielke, Gwynne's first DARE graduating class included Ryan
Barkwell, Nicole Dubland, Maia Edlund, Celine Garrow, Dakota Hahn, Ty
Hartwig, Julia Haynes, Colton Hutchinson, Alexandra Krause, Ashley Morin,
Nicole Ross, Levi Senz, Kelsey Adler, Lukas Hagstrom, Robert Jackson, Jade
Moses and Gregory Van Deurzen.