Kids in Boyle are taking the DARE and saying no to drugs.
Boyle RCMP has re-instated the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program as a way to prevent drug and alcohol addictions in today’s youth.
The first group of Grade 6 students to graduate from the program at Boyle School had their graduation ceremony on April 10.
The school had18 students graduate from the program, which is designed to educate students as young as Kindergarteners about the negative effects drugs can have on their life. The goal is to provide kids with skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence throughout their life.
The 10-week program is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug-free lives, according to Boyle RCMP Const. and DARE leader Jason Clace.
“It’s important to give kids opportunities to make good decisions,” Clace said. “I won’t be able to make the decisions for them when the time comes later on down the road, so it’s important to help give them the tools they need now to make good, appropriate decisions later.”
The DARE program hadn’t been run in Boyle for eight years and a huge proponent in getting the program re-instated was Const. Sonny Kim, who approached Boyle School principal Art Shea with the idea when he first came to Boyle. At the time, Shea was pleased to help in any way he could to help get the program back on track.
“I was very excited when Sonny approached me to bring the program back,” Shea said. “From what I’ve seen it’s been very successful so far. We may not see any real changes in the kids immediately, but four, five, six years from now, when the kids have to make these decisions, we’ll see the results of the program and how much the kids have learned and the dynamics of the school will change for the better.”
When the idea came forth to re-instate the DARE program, Kim needed to make sure other RCMP officers got trained to help kids choose a drug-free life. Clace did his training while on a two-week training course in Edmonton where he not only learned the ins and outs of the program, but also had practice presenting the lessons to fellow DARE trainees and going into Edmonton schools for practice. This helped in learning how to give the students the skills they needed, noted Clace.
“This was my first time teaching the DARE program and the class was fantastic,” Clace said. “Having the practice before hand helped a lot and the kids were really excited to learn. There was a lot of class participation and it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again. It’s also good to get into the schools early on in a positive note and build a rapport with the kids rather than always dealing with them in a negative way.
“Teaching this course was for sure a positive thing to do and a great experience.”
