Christine CarrilloAbout 1,000 fifth- and sixth-grade students...

Christine Carrillo

About 1,000 fifth- and sixth-grade students celebrated their

graduation from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program Tuesday

by running around in mazes, being hurled in the air by the force of a

bungee cord, bouncing around on inflatable contraptions of all sorts

and visiting with SWAT and K-9 officers.

The students, who came from about 25 schools in Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa, had successfully completed their 17-week course and were

given a day to revel in their achievements.

“The entire program is geared toward teaching kids how to stay

away from drugs and violence,” said Costa Mesa Police Officer Jeff

Horn, who has taught DARE for two years and helped organize the

event. “I really do believe [the program] is beneficial and really do

think we have an impact on [the students]. This is kind of their

reward.”

DARE education embodies much more than drug-abuse awareness. It

also arms students with techniques and skills to help them deal with

peer pressure, conflict, stress and anger.

“They taught us about peer pressure and how to handle that,” said

11-year-old Lily Beirami, a sixth-grader at Mariners Elementary

School in Newport Beach. “Even the troublemakers in our class

actually listened.”

While Horn and other DARE instructors do teach students about the

health-related consequences of drug abuse, they also focus a good

portion of the education on the reasons people start taking drugs and

resort to violence.

The DARE program “is fun and you wouldn’t think it is because it’s

about drugs and stuff,” said 12-year-old Megan Frye, also a

sixth-grader at Mariners. “You learn how bad they are for you.”

Aside from being fun, the program is an education, students said.

It “was very educating and it teaches you about illegal drugs and

the consequences and risks,” said 11-year-old Ryan Mesa, a

fifth-grader at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Costa Mesa.

The fair “is fun and you can see the officers working really hard to

put it all together.”

Parents and school officials also expressed their appreciation for

what the DARE program has brought to Newport-Mesa.

“DARE is a very valuable program to us,” said Bonnie Swann,

director of elementary education for the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District. “It certainly deals with content that, as a parent, as a

principal and as a district employee, we want all of our children to

have so they’re powerful and can be resistant to all those tempting

sources.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].