Plymell Elementary School fifth and sixth graders completed the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program with a graduation ceremony marking the achievement on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The graduation ceremony was held in front of an all school assembly.
Taught by a local law enforcement officer from the Finney County Sheriff’s Office, this school-based drug-use prevention program is a part of the school’s curriculum for this school year. In fact, one of the keys to the success of the D.A.R.E. program, is the officer, who gets to know the students and who is able to build a relationship with them. Finney County Sheriff’s Office Corporal, Ashley Crockett, worked with the students to get them through the program at the school.
The main goal of the D.A.R.E. program is to teach effective peer resistance and refusal skills so that young teens can say “no” to drugs and to their friends who may want to use drugs. The secondary goal is to build students’ social skills and enhance their self-esteem, which is believed to be linked to adolescent drug use.