Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 Source: Wynyard Advance Gazette (CN SN) Copyright: 2004 The Advance Gazette Contact: http://www.wynyardadvance.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2159 DARE GRADUATION CEREMONY HELD AT WYNYARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Wynyard Advance Gazette -- Constable Allana Graham welcomed invited guests to the DARE graduation ceremony held at Wynyard Elementary School on the morning of June 10. This was Constable Graham's first time as an instructor for the DARE program. "Today's ceremony is an important part of the curriculum designed to let the students show what they have learned and to acknowledge their participation," said Constable Graham. "DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It is a collaborative effort by law enforcement, educators and the community to prevent drug abuse and violence in children and youth. DARE helps students recognize and resist the many pressures that influence them to experiment with drugs, alcohol and violence," Constable Graham stated. The DARE program focuses on feelings relating to self esteem, interpersonal and communication skills, decision making and positive alternatives to drug abuse behavior. Lessons were held once a week for 45 minutes in Mrs. Tarasoff's grade 6 classroom for 17 weeks. During each lesson, students participated in cooperative learning activities designed to encourage them to overcome problems of major importance and to learn how to deal with situations in a positive way. The students had the opportunity to perform skits utilizing the values they had learned during the program. All of the skits created a scenario involving drugs, bullying and violence. In skit number one, a male student is smoking pot in the principal's car. Other students, friends of the pot smoker tried to persuade him not to continue, he refuses to listen and gets "busted" by the RCMP. The students then show the audience the positive outcome of taking the road that leads to no drug use. The students end up being a good student with a future bright and wide. Dylan Hundstad read his essay aloud to the guests and received a medal for doing a terrific job of explaining what DARE means to him. Kelsey Kowalyk was also asked to read her essay. Skit number 2 showed the audience what the students had learned in the different ways to say no. A student didn't want to go to a party with her friends, in an attempt to persuade their friend to go, they bully her, push her around but she doesn't give in. She has decided that she will stay home instead of going to the party, despite what her "friends" think of her. Group three performance included a narrator who explained the actions of the actors as they portrayed different ways that people bully . The last skit showed a journalist who would lose his job if he didn't get one more great story. As he was standing on a bridge, contemplating jumping off a lawyer approached him . He explained to the journalist that he had lost three cases that day and would like to jump off the bridge as well. As the two men were about to jump they were interrupted by a young lady who thought she had seen aliens, and a soccer player with one leg who had been kicked off the team because of her disability. The journalist suggested that they all jump off the bridge together on the count of three. On three everyone jumped except the journalist who walked away happy because he had just got the one great story he needed to keep his job. Judging by the audience's laughter, the skit appealed to everyone's funny side. The ceremony also included words of praise and wisdom from Principal Fisher, and the Grade 6 teacher, Mrs. Edie Tarasoff. Constable Graham thanked local businesses for their part in the DARE program. These businesses include Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Wynyard Legion, Peppertree Restaurant, Cornerstone Credit Union, Grummett Motors, Wynyard and District Kinsmen, Wynyard Elementary School Council, Wynyard Composite High School. Devin Lunney and Brea Lowenberger were asked to join the grade 6 class during the graduation. Brea and Devin were recommended by their principal as positive role models in the community. They spent an hour in the grade 6 class answering student's questions and discussing the positive alternatives they have chosen instead of getting involved in drugs and alcohol. The ceremony concluded with an invitation for the grade 6 class to stay and have pizza for lunch. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D