December 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Forty-seven fifth graders at DeKalb West School graduated from the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program in a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
D.A.R.E. is a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department-led series of classroom lessons that teaches fifth graders in DeKalb County how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.
Billy Tiner, the Sheriff’s Department’s School Resource Officer at DeKalb West School, doubles as the D.A.R.E Officer instructor for the fifth-grade classes.
The 10-week course identifies fundamental, basic skills and developmental processes needed for healthy development including: Self-awareness and management, Responsible decision making, Understanding others, Relationship and communication skills, and Handling responsibilities and challenges.
D.A.R.E. believes that if you can teach youth to make safe and responsible decisions, it will guide them to healthy choices, not only about drugs, but across all parts of their lives. As they grow to be responsible citizens, they will lead healthier and more productive drug-free lives.
As part of the course, students prepared essays on what they have learned from D.A.R.E. and a winner was selected from each fifth-grade class. The winners at DeKalb West School were Makenna Lomas from Ms. Rachel Desimone’s homeroom class and Kaylee Womack from Ms. Jeanna Caplinger’s homeroom class. Halia McDaniel was the overall winner, and she received a $50 check from General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Bratten Cook, II presented in his absence.
DWS D.A.R.E. students are Krystopher Barrick, Slade Bennett, Gabriel Blair, Adam Brown, Grant Brown, Kayla Checchi, Joelle Cool, Adonis Cooprider, Levi Cripps, Jacob Dies, Elliott Dillard, Bobby Joe Dillon, Elijah Emberton, Robert Floyd, Zander Ford, Katelyn Fry, Riley Gibbs, Ayres Gonzalez, Joslyn Gorman, Spencer Gregory, Jada Hale, Mia Hall, Jaretzy Aguilar-Castellanoes, Javan Hefflin, Dayton Heflin, Jacob Johnson, Makenna Lomas, Jonah Maynard, Halia McDaniel, Ezalee Moore, Declan Moss, Kaden Mullinax, Savana Muncey, Jaython Myers, Jake Nokes, Allie Pedigo, Kate Pistole, Maddux Pyburn, Levi Randolph, Aydin Reed, Isaac Scott, Kenzie South, Miley Tays, Harley Willingham, Logan Winfree, Hunter Winne, and Kaylee Womack.