D.A.R.E

My daughter had her graduation ceremonies from the D.A.R.E. program tonight and I was elated to be there. What a fantastic program for young kids, fifth grade, actually. Even more so, that one of the officers from our Police Department is the head of it and she does an amazing job. She connects with those kids on such a personal level. She knows how to have fun but also knows how to be serious that they understand and absorb the meaning behind her teachings.

One of the things that the kids were asked to do was to write a letter to themselves for when they become freshman's in high school. A letter reminding them of everything that they learned during the D.A.R.E. program with hopes that they kept true to what they learned and made the right choices to be drug and alcohol free as they enter high school. Even better, they actually save the letters for the kids 8th grade teachers, and when they close out the year, they are going to give them back to the students to read and see how far they have come.

Before they did the awards they had the kids recite a couple pledges that I thought were amazing for the kids, and even us as adults, to embrace.

This is the student pledge that they say every morning:

I am the one and only person who has the power to decide who I am and what I do.

I accept the consequences for my decisions.

I am in charge of my learning and behaviour.

I respect the rights of others and I am a credit to myself, my family, my school, and my community.

I believe. I achieve. I succeed.

And then the D.A.R.E. pledge:

Good. Better. Best.
Never let it rest.
Until your good is better.
And your better is best!

At the end they wrapped up with a photo video of all the kids thorough out the course of the program and played music along with it. The very last song played was Rascal Flatts - My Wish which is one of my absolute favorites! It can apply to so many different situations in life, and it fit perfectly to end the nights ceremony.