By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor
BURLINGTON — “It's easy to say, ‘I'll never do drugs,' but now when I say that, I know that I truly mean it and I'm confident that I won't fall into a situation that I an unable to handle,” wrote Burlington Primary School fifth grader Cody Rodeheaver in his DARE essay.
“Lots of kids don't start out intending to do drugs, they just didn't have the skills to know how to say no when a friend or someone else offered drugs to them.
“The real-life situations and alternate choices (offer in DARE class) were really helpful in giving me ways to keep looking cool and gracefully decline to use drugs,” he wrote.
Mineral County Sheriff Craig Fraley, who has continued to teach DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) classes to the county's fifth graders this year, read Rodeheaver's essay to the group of students and parents gathered at Burlington Primary Monday afternoon for DARE graduation, and announced that the youngster had been chosen Outstanding Student for the class.
Twenty fifth graders graduated from the 10-week course and attended the graduation ceremony in their traditional black DARE t-shirts.
Fraley told the students the only way anyone has the right
to wear a DARE shirt is “to earn it,” and that the shirt signifies a shift in their role as DARE graduates.
“You are no longer the DARE students; you are the DARE teachers,” he said, challenging them to be positive role models for the younger students, their brothers and sisters, and even their parents.
Three students were recognized as essay winners: Derek Hall, first place; Chelsea Ketterman, second place; and Jacob Fields, third place.
“I learned important ways to say no to drugs and alcohol, no matter what excuses people may have for offering it to me,” Hall wrote in his essay. “I also learned that violence isn't the answer and I learned many different ways to solve problems when an argument comes up.”
“I learned the effects that drugs and alcohol can have on my body,” Ketterman wrote. “I am now aware that I can get lung cancer or even die from using drugs and alcohol.”
“I have learned that there are many ways to stay drug-free, like just walking away and other helpful hints,” Fields wrote. “I think it is important to be drug-free and avoid violence because drugs aren't healthy for you.”
Fraley also recognized three students for their participation in class: Logan Decker, Nikki Swick and Ethen Whitlock.
Graduates included: Whitney Alt, Andrew Aronhalt, Justin Baker, Carley Brafford, Hannah Burgess, Logan Decker, Courtney Dunham, Jeremy Everett, Jacob Fields, Zoey Gill, Derek Hall, Chelsea Ketterman, Austin Obenshain, Caleb Shreve, Nikki Swick, Cole Weaver, Jessika Welch, Ethen Whitlock, Cody Rodeheaver, and Bobbi Elswick.
