Fifth grade students from Brownstown, Crothersville, and Medora Elementary and Lutheran Central Schools recently participated in graduation from the Jackson County Sheriff/Brownstown Police Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program.
There were 209 students who received certificates issued by their D.A.R.E. officers. Specially trained, certified, uniformed police officers spent 45 minutes once a week for 10 weeks teaching the students from an internationally used curriculum about why they should not use tobacco, alcohol, or drugs. The officers used PowerPoints, videos, and special work books to deliver their message.
D.A.R.E. America is celebrating 30 years of teaching that was launched by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates in 1983. The program grew from 10 officers in a handful of Los Angeles Unified School District to over 25,000 D.A.R.E. officers in all 50 states and 47 countries around the world. The Jackson County Sheriff/Brownstown Police Department is celebrating 21 years of teaching D.A.R.E. in the local schools.
Crothersville Elementary School held its graduation on Wednesday, November 13, in the school Cafetorium. Sixty-two students received their certificates from Jackson County Sheriff’s Detective D.A.R.E. officer Bob Lucas. Essay winners were Jonathon Eldridge and Ean Hunt.
The D.A.R.E. officers had the help of D.A.R.E. Role Models who took time from their busy school schedules to talk to the fifth graders about the transition from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school. They gave tips on how to say “No” to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Those students from Crothersville were Megan Bailey, Anna Wetzel, Derek Anderson, and Jayna Hougland.
