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The 2012-2013 Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program finished its instruction at the end of the school year, and a total of 387 fifth-graders successfully completed the curriculum, a press release said. Each student earned a certificate of completion and was awarded a special D.A.R.E. T-shirt as an award.
This was the first year the new, updated D.A.R.E. program was taught in Anderson County Schools, the release said. D.A.R.E. “keepin’ It… REAL” continues to discuss issues such as drugs and peer pressure, but emphasis is placed on the students decision-making process, the choices students make, and the consequences of bad choices. Anderson County was one of the first in the state to be trained and certified to teach the new curriculum.
Again this year, Chief Jim Shetterly and the Lake City Police Department bought T-shirts and awards for Lake City, Dutch Valley, and Briceville elementary schools. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department D.A.R.E. Program also received donations from throughout the county, including area businesses, to help purchase student workbooks, T-shirts, and essay awards. Stephanie Strutner with Allies For Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County along with Kim Guinn with Anderson County Coordinated School Health program also sponsored a trip to the Tennessee Smokies Drug Free Day at Smokies Park.
D.A.R.E. began in 1983 and is a collaborative program in which local law enforcement and local schools join together to educate students about the personal and social consequences of substance abuse and violence. It is taught in more than 75 percent of the nation’s school districts and 43 countries around the world.
The press release said the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department partners with the Anderson County Schools and the Board of Education in providing these important lessons in resisting drugs and violence to our youth.
For more information on D.A.R.E., visit www.dare.com.
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