2003-2004 School Year in Review:

Jay S. Moseley / D.A.R.E. Officer

       Another school year has come to an end.  As usual, we had a an outstanding group of youngsters that made a personal commitment to resist the pressures to say no to violence and drugs. This year’s classroom schedule as well as last year was a little tight but we were able to make sure that the proper curriculum was put out to the kids.  A big THANK YOU goes out to all of our supporters.  In 2003 the 4^th of July Car Show netted close to $4000.00 for the Hemphill County Youth Program and this included the raffle of the Nascar Tickets.  Bill and Rick Zenor of Canadian Auto Parts and Supply were responsible for making that such a success.  The Youth Program also brought in donations from the County of Hemphill, The Hemphill County Hospital, and the United Way.  If I forgot anyone THANK YOU TOO! The Hemphill County Youth Program involves the Futures , Choices, D.A.R.E., G.R.E.A.T., and Risky Business Programs. Sheriff’s Office Employees involved with the implementation of these programs are Chief Deputy Doug Tennant, Katie Gerhardt, and myself.  The other employees with this department help out in a big way by covering for us and making it possible for us to have the time to do these programs.  This year in the 6^th Grade we had a lot of good D.A.R.E. Essays.  Below are the winning D.A.R.E. Essays for each 6^th grade Class.

D.A.R.E.

       In DARE I learned not only to say no to drugs but to avoid them all together.  Like to stay away from people and places where you know that there is going to be drugs, and to get out of situations that involve drugs. One thing that I did not expect to learn was to think about my decisions more carefully, like asking myself and my friends why they do certain things.  I know that some friends have said that doing drugs is cool but ask yourself, Why is filling your lungs with smoke or injecting yourself with needles, wasting your money on dumb stuff like that cool?  If you ask yourself these questions you will most likely make the right decision. So I hereby pledge to remain drug free for as long as I can so that my life won’t be wasted on dumb stuff like drugs.  I hope you too will stay drug free so that you can have a healthier and hopeful life.

Sergio Avila

Mrs. Curtis’ 6^th Grade Class

My D.A.R.E. Essay

       Every day, kids like us get pressured to do tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol at school. Some kids get into violent situations as well. Many schools do not have a program that educates kids on how to avoid violence and numerous kinds of drugs, but Canadian is different. Ever since I started kindergarten, I have been educated on how drugs are harmful, what they contain, how you might be persuaded to consume them, and how to make wise choices about them. I have also been taught how to avoid violence and violent situations. I have been taught lots of important information and shown many diverse examples of how you might be persuaded to take drugs or do violence. Now, I will sum up all of my lessons and put them into one. As you will see, my classmates and I have learned a bunch over the past 7 years.

       In D.A.R.E., our officer has educated us about tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol.  We have learned the ingredients and effects of all of these. Not only have we learned this, but we have learned how to make healthy choices about drugs when we are under pressure, and how to make a strong, definite answer towards people persuading us to consume harmful drugs.  Our Officer has shown us examples of violent situations and how you should react towards them.  We have learned this through the D.A.R.E. decision - making model. Our four steps are: Define your problem, challenge, or opportunity.  Assess your choices and their consequences. Respond by making a choice, and evaluate whether you made a good choice or not.  With these four steps, you can make healthy choices that will benefit you.  This has all had a great impact on me personally because I have realized that all of this data will help me guide my life in the right direction. Someday, I may have to make a choice that might change my life forever.  If it is a good choice, I may go on to bigger and better things, but if it is not, some of my goals might not be possible anymore.  With this in mind, I think that being educated about drugs and violence will help me achieve major goals in my life,

       As some of you may know, this information is not taught in 9^th grade or 12^th grade.  I think that it should be taught to all grades to help them make choices in their life that will help them achieve major goals. It is extremely important for all students to know this information so that they will be ready for the time when they have to make a gigantic decision. In conclusion, learning about drugs and violence and how to make healthy choices was very interesting and informative.  There were some things that I did not know that were taught to me. These things will probably help my peers and I make choices in the future. I would like to thank all of my D.A.R.E. officers for helping my classmates and I learn about violence and drugs. From now on, I promise to make wise decisions about alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and violence.

Kate Abraham

Mrs. Curtis’ 6^th Grade Class.

D.A.R.E.

       Do you dare to be drug free and violence free? Well, I do. Every few minutes, even seconds many users of alcohol, tobacco, and many more harmful drugs end up dying.

       Alcohol, the drinking drug, the one that most teenagers just can’t wait to try. It’s the one that causes the liver to die, slows down the body, and the brain.  You may suffer the loss of coordination, slowed reflexes, loss of self-control, poor judgment, memory lapses, slurred speech, and last but not least, innocent people die. There are always a few loved ones that are killed daily by drunk drivers.  Sometimes it’s not always the drunk driver that dies, it’s the sober ones, and friends in the passenger seat.  I once lost a loved one.  My great uncle died of liver disease caused by alcoholism.  The town of Canadian lost Kami Minick on August 13, 1997 due to a drunk driver.  She died two days before starting her senior year.  She was a dear friend to all of those that knew her. 

       Tobacco, which mostly everyone knows as cigarettes.  Smoking causes many deadly diseases such as, breathing problems, heart disease, and smokers can get infected with more colds and upper respiratory problems.  Smoking is the most common cause of lung, mouth, bladder, and kidney cancers. There are over 200 known poisons in cigarette smoke like nicotine (a powerful addictive substance).  Smoking has been found to be the leading cause of death in this country. Each year over 400,000 Americans die from tobacco.  Most of which smoke before the legal age of 18. Smoking also causes dry skin, wrinkles, yellow teeth, and bad breath.  Chewing tobacco causes dehydration. Smoking is a risk to your healt and others around you.  3,000 non-smokers die from lung cancer each year from breathing other people’s smoke.

Another harmful drug is Marijuana, which also causes breathing problems. The symptoms of Marijuana are short term memory loss, loss of the ability to concentrate, slows coordination and reflexes, also affecting your ability to judge distance, speed and reaction, and would also make it hard to drive a car, ride a bike, or play sports. Marijuana can be very addictive! There is more tar in Marihuana smoke that there is in tobacco smoke. Users of Marihuana have a higher risk of getting cancer when they smoke it.  Marihuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more of some cancer causing chemicals than tobacco.  It is also illegal to have Marijuana in the United States.

       There are many more harmful drugs around that can harm you just as much as the ones that I have talked about today.  So please keep your eyes open and always say NO! to drugs, and stay drug free like I am going to do.  It will save your life and many others.

       Thank you for listening to what I have to say about D.A.R.E.!

Kristina Green

Mrs. Forrest’s 6^th Grade Class

Whitney’s D.A.R.E. Essay

       The D.A.R.E. program has given me lots of skills that I will need forever! D.A.R.E. has also taught me how to make big decisions when they appear in my life.  This program has shown us lots of drugs and advertisements that we need to look out for every day. Now I know that when I am offered drugs, to say no.  Just knowing all the bad facts of what drugs can do to you, I definitely would rather stay away from drugs.

       D.A.R.E. made a big impact on me!  When we started the program, my first though was that the whole point of the D.A.R.E. program was to “SAY NO TO DRUGS”.  Well, it’s not that easy. The kids might think you’re not cool if you don’t smoke or you’re weird if you don’t drink alcohol. This D.A.R.E. program gave us an outline going step-by-step telling us exactly how to say no. Not just drugs, but any choice I have to make, now I know how to make that choice. So even though I won’t have D.A.R.E. for all fo my life, I’ll keep it in my mind forever!

       The types of skills that we learned to say no were based on the letters D.A.R.E..  D stands fo define which tells me to think about the situation that I am in.  A stands for assess, which is asking me for all the options that I have. R stands for respond.  That is saying to make a decision from the situation that I am in.  E is probably the most important step.  E means to evaluate.  Think about your choice that you made one more time and hopefully it will be a good one.

       I have always seen drugs on T.V. and on billboards everywhere, but I know that they are fake.  If you choose to follow the advertisement, you could end up with brain problems, mouth cancer, lung cancer, or breathing problems. That’s why I choose never to do drugs. I want to go places, do things, and achieve goals in life. I don’t have time for drugs. D.A.R.E. has helped me and now I’ll always be drug-free!!!!

       Thank you Jay for coming and helping us make the right decisions.

Whitney Knight

Mrs. Forrest’s 6^th Grade Class

Dare Report

       If we didn’t have a Dare program there would be more kids every day trying drugs.  I’m grateful that our school has a Dare program because without it we would not learn that drugs are of no good.

       I learned that if my friend or a stranger would ask me to do drugs I would say “NO”. I also learned that if I were asked to do drugs, not to make up excuses of what might happen to me because they would probably keep telling me that nothing bad would happen to me.  “NOT!” A lot would happen, for instance if I were to smoke my lungs would curl up and give me an asthma attack so bad that it would probably kill me.  Smoking also gives you cancer.

       Some people think that it is just not right to drink when you are little but that it is OK to drink when you get older. “NOT”! Just because you are older does not mean that alcohol can’t hurt you because it can. It can eat your liver and organs away.

       It is important to be drug free and avoid violence because what you do will probably affect someone younger. It will affect them because they look up to you. So remember if you’re ever put in a situation to do drugs or not to do drugs, remember what you learned in DARE and you should be okay.  You are trusted to make the right decision, so make a good choice because your life may depend on it.

Barrett McCormick

Mrs. Hawley’s 6^th Grade Class.

DRUG FREE

       I have been participating in the DARE program since I was in kindergarten. Every year we had so much fun, but the thing I didn’t know was that everything I was learning would come in handy some day.

       Since Kindergarten I learned how to say no to drugs, and how harmful drugs can be to you.  The three most harmful drugs are Marihuana, Alcohol, and tobacco.  They can cause problems in your brain, mouth, throat, lungs, heart, and liver.  As you can see those three drugs will end up killing you. The most remarkable thing that I learned was that all the drug advertisements are not targeted towards adults, they are targeted towards young people like you and me.

       The skills I learned in DARE are about the most important things that you can learn. DARE teaches you how to refuse drugs, how to deal with peer pressure, and making wise choices.  I know that everybody will sooner or later experience peer pressure. When you do you will know that you can walk away from it and know how to deal with it. People should be glad to have DARE because it helps you out all the time and you don’t even know it.

       My commitment to DARE is to stay drug free.  I will keep other kids away from drugs and not pressure them into drinking or anything that is harmful to them. I will stay away from any type of drugs that may lead to death.  That’s how I will stay healthy and drug free, and that’s something to be proud of when you grow up.

Julia Ochoa

Mrs. Hawley’s 6^th Grade Class

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