'DARE-ING' GRADUATION ON TAP TODAY

Nearly 300 fifth-grade DARE students will "graduate" in a mass
ceremony at the Flathead County fairgrounds this morning.

It's the first time all the Kalispell students in the police
department's drug, tobabcco and alcohol education program will share
their graduation shindigs with each other.

"They're making a big enough commitment," Community Resource and DARE
Officer Michelle O'Neil said, "so we decided to do a bigger
graduation." And they'll have former NFL cornerback Kerry Justin there
to cheer them on.

O'Neil spent 10 weeks beginning last October teaching the students in
Edgerton, Russell, Elrod, Peterson, Hedges, St. Matthew's and Trinity
Lutheran schools. Although DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, O'Neil said the focus stayed more on the positives of
learning to make good decisions. In that vein, the students used it to
highlight their own decision-making ladder: Define, Assess, Response,
Evaluate.

She worked with students in 12 fifth-grade classrooms on DARE's
updated, science-based model. They learned statistics about what
marijuana, tobacco and alcohol can do to a person. They talked about
how many people run into touble with these substances each year.

But mostly, O'Neil said, they used that information in an effort to
turn it into positives in their own lives.

They talked about dealing with peer pressure, and about the high
numbers of students who are not partaking in these unhealthy
behaviors. And they learned how to safely get themselves out of
potentially dangerous situations.

The program finished just before Christmas break, but graduation was
delayed until today to ease scheduling conflicts.

It starts at 9:30 a.m. in the new Expo Building at the fairgrounds.
During the ceremony, students will receive their certificates of
graduation and hear a congratulatory speech from Justin.

Justin signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 1978, and was one of the
premier defensive backs in the NFL during his 12-year professional
football career. During that time, he was elected to five Pro Bowls.

Afterwards, students will get to spend a little more time with him and
each other as they dive into donated pizza and pop, courtesy of
Domino's Pizza, Pepsi and McDonald's. Fairground managers also reduced
the building rental as their donation to the effort.

O'Neil expected things to wrap up by 11:30 a.m.