For eight weeks this fall, Sydney Bolsinger (11) and Murphy Oakleaf (10) helped the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program for several Tuesdays at St. Mary’s School, acting as a presence of TADA.

They helped Officer Jason White of the Manchester Police Department with the discussions and provided experiences from their own lives. The sixth graders at St. Mary’s learned about the consequences of drugs and alcohol use and the importance of making good choices.

Officer Jason White of the Manchester Police Department led these 45-minute sessions, where students learned about the consequences of drugs and alcohol use, as well as the importance of making good choices. They studied the D.A.R.E. books containing “what would you do” situations, discussed the problems as a class and decided how they would act.

“My favorite thing we did was when another police officer brought in a German shepherd from the Czech Republic,” Oakleaf said. “He showed us all the dog commands and how the dog would find drugs on a real crime scene.”

According to teacher Kathy Naughton, Bolsinger and Oakleaf became motivated to help out after other TADA members learned of this idea at an ISTEP conference last fall.  

“Volunteering with D.A.R.E. gives TADA members the opportunity for leadership,” Naughton said.  “This is important because statistics show that a lot of drug habits start in the middle school years.”

The D.A.R.E program will also be taking place with the sixth graders at West Delaware Middle School later this year, and TADA members will have another opportunity to participate as volunteers.