IN THE CLASSROOM -- Do they DARE?

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA - In place of the traditional cap and gown, fifth-grade

students at Kaiser Elementary School wore white T-shirts with the DARE

slogan across the front at a graduation ceremony Monday morning.

After training an hour a week for 17 weeks with Costa Mesa Police

Officer Glen Langsford, children graduated from the Drug Abuse Resistance

Education program.

“They teach you about what drugs do to you,” said Kyle Gladding, 10.

Students were eager to share their newfound knowledge of just what the

consequences could be.

“You can die, you can get sick -- there’s a million things,” said Alex

Trixton, 10.

But there’s more to the class than just drug education, Langsford

said.

The course covers self-esteem, counseling, stress, drugs, drug abuse,

eight ways to say no, youth gangs, intimidation, four types of peer

pressure and teamwork, he said.

Students were asked to write an essay about the program and what they

learned from it.

The students who wrote the three top essays in each class were honored

at the ceremony.

First-place winners were asked to read their essays aloud.

“I think I should stay drug-free because all the reasons for taking

drugs are lame,” read Gen Christensan, 10, from his essay.

Each student received a certificate of completion, a sticker and, as

we saw in a sneak preview when they rolled across the stage, a neon DARE

pencil.

But teachers and parents hope the students took away more than just

the tangible evidence of the class.

“I’d rather be unpopular than smoke,” said Sloan Robinson, 10.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Danette Goulet visits a campus within the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District and writes about her experience.