D.A.R.E. TO BE GREAT

After successfully completing the ten week D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, 240 Pottstown Middle School fifth graders along with 150 parents celebrated a step in the direction to becoming a successful adult.  The ten week program, which is presented by Deputy Ian Stewart, focuses on providing students with knowledge and strategies that will help them make healthy lifestyle decisions.  

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven successful and is now being implemented in over 75% of our nation’s school districts and in more than 43 countries around the world.  D.A.R.E. is a police officer led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live long productive drug and violence free lives.

During the graduation ceremonies, nine classroom essay award winners received medals.  The award winners were:  Darius Smallwood, Talia Spruill, Haley Haas, Harmony Wood, Naomi Parson, Kishan Patel, Alyzeah Hedgepeth, Emily Plowfield, and Caitlin Kanagie.

Matt Boyer, Interim Principal – Grades 5-6, said, “We are proud to be able to be associated with such an outstanding program that helps our young people develop the strategies and knowledge necessary to help make them successful as young adults.  They are the future of our community and our country.  We can make no bigger investment in future success.”