Students of Forms 1 and 2 of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) completed the DARE programme on Wednesday morning, June 14th, 2023, with an in-house graduation.
The programme highlights the acronym DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It is conducted annually by officers of the Royal Anguilla Police Force in collaboration with the Department of Education.
DARE comprises a series of training exercises in the classroom that enables students to make right decisions, steering them away from the social ills and pitfalls that come from making wrong choices and taking untoward decisions.
Training in the DARE programme covers the four “Keeping it Real” strategies – Refuse, Explain, Avoid and Leave; How to Make Good Decisions in Bad Situations; Conflict Resolution; Facts vs Myths About Teens Using Drugs; How to be Respectfully Assertive; How to Get Yourself out of Risky Situations; Creating Your Support Network; and Peer Pressure and Norms.
Overall, it prepares the youngsters for life in the future and teaches them how to wisely take charge of their own lives.
Wednesday’s graduation was moderated by Police Officers Shawn Lake and Augustine Carbon.
A song entitled “It’s a Climb” was sung by Police Officer, Jenique Nedd, and the Keynote Speaker was Police Commissioner, Robert Clarke. He emphasized the importance of the students doing all it takes to make the right decisions and to avoid their lives from being interrupted by mistakes of their own making.
“I can still remember sitting where you are sitting now,” he reflected. “Where you are sitting now is at a crossroad in your life. This is probably the most formative time you will ever have of your time here on this earth. What we have tried to do is to give you the skills, through the DARE programme, to make the right choices.”
“There was once an actress named Keri Russell who made a very insightful statement. She said ‘Sometimes it is the smallest decisions that can change your life forever’. Each of you, at sometime in your lives, will be in a situation where that little voice within the back of your head would say: ‘I’m not comfortable; this is not the right thing to do’. We have given you the decision skills to listen to that voice and make the right choice,” Commissioner Clarke noted.
He admitted that he, like everyone else, had not always made right choices in life. “No one here today can always say that he or she had always done the right thing. However, I have seen too many people who made the wrong choice and got caught. And such choices have had negative impacts on the rest of their lives for their future.”
He implored the students to be careful to adhere to what they had been trained to do in DARE. “So please take what we have taught you in the DARE programme. Reflect upon it, and when you are in the position to make a decision, ask yourself if you are about to do the wrong thing. Then please stay clear of it.”
The graduation was accented by two plays staged by the students. One play called “The Fight” exhibited how the counsel of a considerate parent prevented a young man from involving himself in a case of seeking revenge on an opponent who had badly beaten him up. He followed his father’s advice not to “fight fire with fire”, thus making the right decision. The other play entitled “Let’s Do It” again demonstrated how the intervention of a mother prevented her son from indulging in sexual acts before his time. He made the right decision to abstain.
Awards were presented to outstanding students who did exceptionally well in the programme. They included Emily Gumbs; Jahvie Hamilton; Adaiah Linton; Senaiya Richardson; Sequoi Johnson; Dejonelle Christmas; Rayne Laudat; and Shenecia Proctor.
Deputy Principal, Perry Richardson, thanked the Royal Anguilla Police Force for conducting the DARE programme for yet another year at the school.
