May 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Twenty six fifth graders at DeKalb West School graduated from the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program in a ceremony Tuesday 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.
Lewis Carrick, 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.
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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 Carter Vickers from Ms. Nadina Martel’s class and Autumn Dies from Ms. Jeanna Caplinger’s class. Vickers was the overall winner and he received a $50 check from General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Bratten Cook, II presented in his absence by Tish Summers and Megan Cook.
D.A.R.E. students in Ms. Caplinger’s Class were Cole Bain, Mireya Barrett, Will Bouldin, Abby Crook, Autumn Dies, Xavier Floyd, Peyton Key, Nicholas Maddox, Cameron Mitchell, Hudson Moss, Ethan Reynolds, Landon Roehner, Madeleine Schwenke, Isabella Tarpley, and Caleb Tipton.
D.A.R.E students in Ms. Martel’s Class were Darci Blair, Isabelle Hendrixson, Jonathan Keith, Chaylea Lunsford, Nicholes Murphy, Caitlin Shoemake, Kolby Slager, Cameron Stanley, Conner Talley, Carter Vickers, and Brennan Winfree.