D.A.R.E. GRADUATION; ANOTHER VICTORY IN THE WAR AGAINST DRUGS AND VIOLENCE

Immaculate Conception fifth-grade students held their D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony Tuesday night at the school.

A crowd of 100-plus watched the graduating class of 30 students were honored for completing the D.A.R.E. course offered by the Jackson Police Department.

Jackson Police Sgt. Howard Hammers taught the course at Immaculate Conception. Hammers has taught D.A.R.E. in Jackson for the past six years. D.A.R.E. has been at Immaculate Conception for the past five years.

Officer Wes Jordan taught the D.A.R.E. courses at Jackson Middle School this semester and he will teach a D.A.R.E. course at St. Paul Lutheran School in the spring.

D.A.R.E. which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, began in Los Angles, Calif., in the early 1980s.

D.A.R.E. came to Missouri in the late 1980s and began in Jackson in 1992.

Mayor Paul Sander was on hand for the graduation and he told the students that the "best resource in our community for the future is our school kids." Sander went on to tout the benefits of staying away from drugs throughout their lifetimes and he added that Jackson is not immune to the drug problem.

"I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that drugs are not in our community. We are not immune. But maybe you can look back at the D.A.R.E. program and say that it did me some good," Sander said.

Special awards were given to Trenton Crawford and Molly Hartmann for writing the best D.A.R.E. essays in the class. They also read their essays aloud.

Graduation certificates and t-shirts were handed out and then the class performed a D.A.R.E. skit to music. No words were spoken in the skit entitled "The Turnaround."

The class also gave Sgt. Hammers a parting gift and card to thank him for his efforts.

"After going through the D.A.R.E. program the children have the skills and the positive reinforcement (already present from their parents) to remain drug free and avoid violence," Hammers said.

The 14-week course is taught once a week for one hour during regular school hours and the focus is on resistance skills, building self-esteem, handling peer pressure, conflict resolution and the dangers of all drugs.

The schools expect all students to go through the D.A.R.E. program, but the final decision is left up to the parents who can decide not to have their child go through D.A.R.E.

Hammers said between 2,500 and 3,000 students have gone through the program since its inception in 1992.

The program is held for students in the sixth grade at other schools. Immaculate Conception is the only school that holds the course for fifth grade students.