Pubdate: Sat, 4 March 2006
Source: Daily Democrat (CA)
Copyright: 2006, Daily Democrat
Contact:  http://www.dailydemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3030
Author: Ben Antonius/Democrat, Staff Writer

YOCHA-DE-HE STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM DARE

Tribal School Kids First Class To Pass Anti-drug  Program

Ten students became the first DARE graduates in the  history of tiny
Yocha-De-He Preparatory School in  Brooks on Thursday.

The Yolo County Sheriff's Department conducts the Drug  Abuse
Resistance Education program for sixth-graders  throughout the county.
Until this year, though, it had  never visited the small preparatory
school run by the  Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, which has 22
students  across all ages.

Thanks to a grant from the tribe's annual mitigation  fund, they made
it happen.

"(DARE) is not just about saying no to drugs,"  explained instructor
Reid Thompson. "We work on life  skills; how to get out of situations
gracefully and  tactfully."

Receiving awards were fifth-graders Jake Eason, Valya  Harman and
Nathaniel Villalobos, sixth-graders Diamond  Marquez, Demetrius
Lowell, Miranda Reyes and Hannah  Sheehan and seventh-graders Mike
Evans, Jasper Lowell  and Roman Reyes.

Teacher Todd Gettleman said the 10-week program  involved Thompson
visiting the class for an hour each  Tuesday to put students through a
variety of  activities.

"We do a lot of role-playing," he said. "We try to hit  all the
different learning skills. The optimal thing is  to have them teach
each other."

To graduate, each student had to write an essay on the  lessons of the
program. Thompson and the rest of the  class selected the two best as
valedictorians, who read  their essays aloud on Thursday.

Marquez and Demetrius Lowell read about the program and  how it taught
them the ways to recognize different  drugs as well as their effects,
peer pressure and how  to escape it.

"I learned to be drug free," Marquez said.

It's not clear what the future holds for Yocha-De-He's  program. DARE
is normally administered to  sixth-graders, but next year's class will
have already  graduated. However, everyone involved expressed an
interest in seeing it return along with the Stranger  Danger program
offered for the younger kids.

The tribal mitigation money is offered every year, so  it would be
possible for the program to go on hiatus  for a year or two and return
with a new grant. 
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MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPF Florida)