Ohio News

DARE impacting kid's choices
Chillicothe Gazette - December 2006

Students involved in the D.A.R.E. program show off certificates

they've earned by graduating the anti-drug school program at Worthington Elementary.

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO--Alexis Claytor wants people to learn from her grandfather.

About nine years ago, he died for two reasons, she said - "He was old and he smoked."

"I will tell you the truth. His teeth were yellow and his jaw and tongue even had cancer, too. So, please, don't be like my grandpa and stay drug-free," she added.

Claytor is one of the fifth- graders at Worthington Elementary who graduated from D.A.R.E. Tuesday and read her essay at the ceremony. Her essay, and those of three other students - Ben Gray, Quinten Sparks and Jacquelyn Gibson - was selected by her peers as the best to be read at graduation.

Chillicothe Police Officer Julie Preston has taught the program in the Chillicothe City Schools, including Bishop Flaget, for about two years. She already has seen the impact she has made with students.

"I have seventh- and eighth-graders come up to me and say they remember (what they learned) ... when the D.A.R.E. officer isn't 'cool' anymore," she said.

The program hits hard upon the effects of tobacco and alcohol, but also inhalants, street drugs and over-the-counter medications.

"I have learned more about drugs and violence and what can happen if you make wrong choices," Gray said in his essay. "I appreciate what she (Preston) does and what she has taught me. I think the D.A.R.E. program is a great program that has given me a lot of good information."

Preston said parents will know if their children are experimenting or using drugs or alcohol because their behavior will change.

"If they're just not talking a lot, or they're depressed and their grades are getting worse," she said, adding the physical signs include bloodshot, glassy eyes, bad breath - just anything out of the ordinary.

How to combat it?

"Be really in tune with what your kids are doing and who they're hanging out with," she said. "When kids are active in sports or after-school programs, it gets their interests somewhere else (off drugs)."

The key to opening dialogue is bluntness - ask if anyone has offered them drugs or alcohol or asked them to do it, she said. Fifth grade is the right time for the conversation.

"Because when they're that age, it's right before they go into junior high. (In D.A.R.E.) we touch on a lot about peer pressure ... how to handle it in a way to try to get your friends to make the healthy choice," she said.

"I am not going to do drugs but I don't know about you," Claytor said. "I love my life just the same without drugs in it. I want to live a long time, not waste it. So, if they say you won't be cool, say: 'I don't want to be cool with you guys."

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