This past semester, fifth graders from all five of our town’s elementary schools (Eads, Elliott, Frank Hammond, St. Thomas More, and St. Paul’s) participated in the main curriculum of the Munster Police Department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Program which lasted for ten weeks.
During the program, the students received safety lessons in regards to drug prevention, bullying prevention, resisting peer pressure, managing stress, effective communication skills, help networks, making healthy choices, and more. The students were also visited remotely by D.A.R.E. Role Models from Munster High School who answered their questions and offered valuable advice for the future.
Throughout May, each of the schools held D.A.R.E. Graduation ceremonies where the students were honored for completing the program. In addition, awards were presented to students for writing the top D.A.R.E. essays or for winning the Daren Award for best overall participation and behavior during the classes. The Munster Police Department would like to congratulate all of our D.A.R.E. graduates and award winners.
The Munster Police Department would also like to thank our generous program sponsors: St. Thomas More Church, Miss Print, Munster Rotary Club, Eads Elementary School PTO, Frank Hammond Elementary PTO, Elliott Elementary PTO, American Community Bank, McDonald’s, Jewel Osco, Dairy Queen, Lansing Cleaners, Wilbur Wright Middle School PTO, KFC, Munster Donut, the Shah Family, John Friend, the Cobblestones Condominium Homeowners Association, St. Paul’s Lutheran School TAP, Rose Callazo, and Jill Pykosz.
The Munster Police Department’s D.A.R.E. Program has been presented in our schools for 32 years thanks to the continued and generous support from our community.