It takes courage to get up on stage and speak in front of a crowd of peers, parents and teachers. That courage was evident in the Grade 4 and 5 students from the Bowen Island Community School (BICS) who presented at the D.A.R.E. graduation on April 26.
RCMP Auxiliary Constable Effron Esseiva has facilitated D.A.R.E. on Bowen Island for four years and believes the kids come away from the program with a sense of ownership of issues as big as alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATODs) as it pertains to them, their lives, their bodies and their health.
"[The topic] is very age-relevant as [the students] strive to begin asserting control over their lives. They demonstrate that with their conversations at home and the work they put in to show off what they've learned during our 10-week-program," he says. "They participate enthusiastically in class. Phenomenal! We familiarize them with a decision-making tool and a view into sober facts about ATODs and get them to act out skits and how they might make their own decisions based on the value system they learn at home and at school." And, Esseiva adds, they build a positive, constructive, non-threatening relationship with police.
"We have so many volunteer students who want to be hand-cuffed for fun that we'd have to add more time to the program to be able to do it," he said.
D.A.R.E, stands for drug abuse resistance education and the program's mission is to provide children with the information and skills they can utilize for living drug-and-violence-free lives. The emphasis is on giving them tools to enable them to avoid negative influences and focus on their strengths and potential instead.
Esseiva says that even though the material for D.A.R.E. is not specific to Bowen Island, he contextualizes the statistics and the examples to make it more accessible and relevant. "We work in conjunction with the class room teacher and our local knowledge and make it applicable. I live on the island and am familiar with the transition to middle school for BICS kids and other issues that are on their minds." Esseiva said. And the discussion spills over to continue at home. "The feedback I have is that the home conversations about ATODs do occur when the D.A.R.E. program is running (with quite an intensity)," he said. "Not every family continues the discussion. It is necessary though. I wish that some form or other of D.A.R.E. would continue right through Grade 12."
Esseiva feels strongly that the topic should be part of the discussion on an ongoing basis "to achieve overall harm reduction so kids can retain the chance to achieve their dreams unimpeded."
"The effect of ATODs on growing children is huge," he said.
As the strongest points and most useful components of D.A.R.E. for Bowen kids, he sees having fact-based conversations on ATODs with each other, forging positive relationships with the local Bowen Island detachment and asking questions about anything that bothers them on the topic of ATODs and other topics.
"To realize that the majority of kids do not do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke is big for them. Often pressure to try something comes from the misguided belief that everyone is doing something when in actual fact not everyone is doing it," Esseiva says. "We discuss with them various laws and how there are laws to protect them from second hand smoke even in cars."
The ceremony at BICS celebrated the graduation of over 90 students who were presented with their graduation certificates. Esseiva, who has presented D.A.R.E. on four occasions on Bowen Island since 2009, was awarded a pin of recognition by Corporal Raina Siou of the Drugs & Organized Crime Awareness Service of the RCMP. Also in attendance was Bruce Wallace, a representative of the Rotary Club of Bowen Island - the club provided financial assistance for D.A.R.E. this year.
See www.darebc.com for further information on D.A.R.E.
