We have a big shoutout to the Belle Fourche Police Department and to our Belle Fourche School District 5th Grade students for their collaboration since starting in Fall 2023 in the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program! As a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teach students how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives, with the warm support and bright guidance of Officer Stephen Schmeltzer, 5th Grade Middle School students finished and graduated from their D.A.R.E. program last week after learning much about building good decision-making skills to help them lead safe and healthy lives, as well as learning to be empowered to respect others and choose to lead lives free from violence, substance use, and other dangerous behaviors. This was all done through a variety of engaging discussions and scenario-based activities that helped students apply effective decision making skills.
As part of their final assignment in D.A.R.E. each student was asked to write an essay sharing what they learned during their time in the D.A.R.E. Program in order to make safe and responsible decisions, utilizing the D.A.R.E. Decision Making Model to help provide them the strategies and steps they need to make safe and responsible decisions in even the most challenging or easiest of situations. In their essays, 5th grade students shared specific examples of what they learned, how they are using the general life skills they learned from this program, and how they plan to use these skills in the future to continue being safe, responsible leaders in their community.
The winners of this year’s D.A.R.E. Essay Contest were: 3rd Place winner Lilith Fay, 2nd Place winner Keaton Davis, and 1st Place winner Adi Burke!
A graduation ceremony with the 5th grade students, staff and helping officers gathered together on January 25th at the Belle Fourche Middle School Gym to celebrate not only the successful graduation of these 5th Grade Broncs in their dedication for learning to be safe, responsible leaders in their community, but also the gathering was used to honor those who won the essay contest in well-describing what the D.A.R.E. Program has taught them, and just how much the D.A.R.E. program has impacted who they are now and who they will be in the future with the important skills and strategies that they learned from Officer Stephen Schmeltzer and with the support of their teachers and peers that worked together to complete this program in the Belle Fourche Middle School classrooms!
Thank you 5th Grade Belle Fourche Middle School staff and Belle Fourche Police Department, for working together to provide our students the skills they need to be their best, safe, and responsible selves, now and as they continue to grow into amazing leaders now and in the future within and around our local community!
Want to learn more about the D.A.R.E. Program? Check out their website HERE!