DARE PROGRAM HOLDS FIRST ROCHESTER MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADUATION

ROCHESTER -- Hundreds of seventh-graders made history recently when
they became the first middle school class in the city to graduate from
the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

"I tell the kids that you'll always be the first," DARE instructor and
School Resource Officer Don Funk said. "This is groundbreaking and
high standards have been set."

The DARE program, which gives kids the life skills they need to avoid
involvement with drugs, gangs, and violence, has been available to
fifth-graders since 1990, but it has not always been offered at each
of the eight elementary schools in the city.

Police and school officials decided recently that the best way to
reach entire classes of students would be at the Middle School, and
Funk started teaching the 10-week course in January.

The students not only learned about saying 'no' to substance abuse but
also how to make other good decisions, and Funk connected with the
students by offering personal anecdotes.

All of the 370 middle schoolers wrote about their experiences in the
DARE program by essay or poem, and four seventh-graders read their
musings aloud at the graduation. The writings focused on avoiding
risky behavior, making good choices and the bond they formed with
Funk, who students and guests gave a standing ovation following his
remarks at the graduation.

"Yes, any teacher can teach a DARE class to seventh-graders, but
Officer Funk actually relates to us and knows what we are going
through," Danielle Chase read from her essay.

Having Funk teach the DARE course and serve as a resource officer has
helped school administrators like Principal Steve Beals keep in tune
"with what is right and wrong at the middle school" as well as provide
support to students and teachers.

"I'm wholeheartedly proud DARE has been taught for the first time in
the history of the middle school," Beals said.

Capt. Paul Callaghan said that since the DARE program's inception,
8,000 students have been reached in the city, some of whom are now
teachers and police officers in Rochester.

"Prevention is one of the key components to having a successful
community," he added.

Spaulding High School hockey coach Paul George and hockey captain Matt
Norriak also spoke at the graduation and encouraged students to make
sound choices so they can participate in athletics and other
activities as they enter high school.

Each of the seventh-graders was presented with a certificate and a
DARE T-shirt while family, friends and teachers cheered them on.

Beals, who won't be at the middle school next year, said he hopes that
the program will continue.

"We have a whole group of sixth-graders ready for DARE," he added.