Pubdate: Sun, 12 Dec 2004
Source: Leavenworth Times, The (KS)
Copyright: The Leavenworth Times 2004.
Contact: P.O. Box 144, Leavenworth, KS 66048
Website: http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3199
Note: Accepts LTEs by mail only! Must be signed with telephone number.
Author: John Richmeier, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

CEREMONY MARKS STUDENTS' PROGRESS IN DARE

The holidays may be in the thoughts of many people this time of year. But 
Mark Lingenfelser also has DARE culmination ceremonies on his mind these days.

On Friday, Lingenfelser oversaw what was his second Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education graduation ceremony so far this school semester.

Two more are scheduled for this week.

But Lingenfelser, an officer with the Leavenworth Police Department, said 
Friday's culmination at Howard Wilson Elementary School held special meaning.

"I taught my first DARE class here," he told the fifth-grade students 
graduating from the program.

He's been teaching the program for 11 years.

The school also held a special place in the heart of the ceremony's guest 
speaker.

Steve Weissenfluh is a former principal of the school.

He later served as the school district's director of human resources. He 
retired from that position over the summer.

Friday's ceremony marked the end of about a dozen weekly visits to 
fifth-grade classes at the school by Lingenfelser as part of the DARE program.

Each fifth-grader at Friday's ceremony received a certificate as well as 
other DARE-related items.

A culmination ceremony also was held in Tonganoxie last week as part of the 
DARE program conducted by the Leavenworth County Sheriff's Office.

A culmination is scheduled for a Leavenworth school next month, and 
additional ceremonies will be held in the area around the end of the school 
year.

Lingenfelser said the DARE program does more than encourage students to say 
"no" to drugs and violence. He said it focuses on making good choices.

During his remarks Friday, Weissenfluh said about one out of every four 
people has a predisposition for substance abuse. He said that means a 
person can be hooked the minute he tries a substance.

And once a person is hooked, three things will happen, he said.

A person can recover.

"And there's a lot of good recovery programs in every community," he said.

A person can get into trouble and go to prison.

Or a person will die.

Weissenfluh told the parents attending the ceremony that their job is not done.

Next year, the fifth-graders will enter middle school, and this will be the 
beginning of their transition into adulthood, he said.

He said it will become harder and harder for parents to keep track of their 
children.

He said parents need to work hard to know where their children are and who 
their friends are.

Weissenfluh told the parents to use their intuition.

If something seems wrong when it comes to their children, he said, it 
probably is.

He told the students that their parents may ask them to do what seem to be 
dumb things in the future.

He asked the children to remember that the word "no" from their parents 
means, "I love you. I care about you."

As part of the fifth-grade DARE program, each student has to write an 
essay. As usual with culmination ceremonies, Lingenfelser asked several of 
the students to read their essays.

Two students from each of the three fifth-grade classes at Howard Wilson 
read their essays. The essays focused mostly on things students had learned 
in the program.

Lingenfelser later read an essay from a former DARE student written in 1994.

After reading the essay, Lingenfelser revealed it had been written by Wayne 
Simien, now a basketball star at the University of Kansas.

Lingenfelser said students could look to Simien as a positive role model.
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