DARE GRADUATES NMB CLASS

Students' Skits Share Learning, Advice

About 300 fifth-graders graduated Friday from the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program at North Myrtle Beach Elementary School.

The event, held at The Alabama Theatre, was marked with performances by
students including skits, songs and essay readings. The children also heard
inspiring words from community leaders.

Officer Julie Smith with the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public
Safety, who heads the DARE program, stressed to the students to take what
they've learned and use it throughout their lives.

"I want to remind you that life is constantly not what you take out of it
but what you put into it," she said.

In one of the skits, students in Barbara Yarborough's class sang their own
words to the song "Follow Me," by Uncle Kracker.

"If you want to stray, I can guarantee: Good decisions surely make you
free," they sang.

In a skit by Tena Vernon's class, the students sang their version of "Stop!
In the Name of Love" by The Supremes: "Stop! in the name of drugs, before
you break a law."

Students from Angela Bass' class dressed up as different role models, such
as athletes and Miss America, while singing the song "Respect" by Aretha
Franklin. The performance also featured three girls in sparkly dresses
singing the lead, while two boys dressed as women danced around them.

Public Safety Director David King also addressed the students after being
introduced by his daughter, Nicole King.

"I'm not sure parents fully realize the importance they have in their kids'
lives," Nicole King said in her introduction. "They're role models."

King, visibly moved by his daughter's words, started off with a shaky voice
but proceeded to offer the students some advice.

"If you share what you've learned with just one other person, you can
change a life for the better," he said. "And you just might help make this
a better world for all of us."