New D.A.R.E. Program Graduated 95 5th Grade Students in November 2023

From Derek Brown, School Resource Officer, Zillah Police Department

We completed our first stint of D.A.R.E. back in November. We graduated 95 5th grade students from Zillah Intermediate School and had 4 fantastic essay winners. We had a guest speaker, our County Sheriff, who was MY D.A.R.E. officer back in 1997! We had a great turn out of parents that came to support the graduation and program. The school was extremely supportive and the time in the classroom flew by! It was a great opportunity to connect with students on a weekly basis.

I am working with the school district on running a middle school program this spring for 7th graders. Time is a little bit more sacred in the middle school, so we are looking at jumping on board during sex ed instruction which is 2 weeks in April. We might have to squeeze 10 lessons in 10 days with a little shortened lesson, but it may be possible.

I’ve use the large flash cards to connect with Pre-School and Kinder students, we’ve focused a lot on STRANGER DANGER and telling adults! I’ve also used the High School Curriculum to speak about opioids to a few classes, since that is a very real thing in our area right now.

It’s been a full year thus far and hoping to cram more in where I can. The school is fully on board to continue D.A.R.E. next year at the 5th grade level.