Kelsey Zacharias started her first day at Atikokan High School this week equipped with something more important than new clothes and school supplies.
The 12-year-old, grade seven student had returned from the D.A.R.E. (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) camp at Sunny Cove here three days earlier, bringing home lessons she intended to use should drugs or violence cross her path.
“I’m going to high school this year and I think I needed [D.A.R.E.]. It’s good to have it fresh in my memory,” reasoned Zacharias.
Zacharias was one of 68 students from across the district who took part in the D.A.R.E. camp last week, which was organized by the Fort Frances OPP and Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention (SAP) team.
Those attending had to have taken the D.A.R.E. program in class during the 1999/2000 school year while in grades five or six.
The five-day camp focused on drug and violence prevention, conflict resolution, and team-building–all worked in around regular summer camp activities like swimming, games, sports, canoeing, and crafts.
It also made history as the first of its kind in the province, and it’s success is a model for other OPP detachments.
“I’m very pleased at how everything went. This being the first time, I think everything worked out perfectly,” co-organizer Cst. Mark Boileau said Monday morning.
Five OPP officers, including Cst. Boileau and Cst. Cameron Howard, remained at the camp all week. Some 21 area residents also volunteered their time to the program.
OPP Insp. Shawn Hayes of Thunder Bay and Fort Frances OPP S/Sgt. Hugh Dennis also were on hand for a D.A.R.E. awards ceremony at Sunny Cove on the Thursday evening.
“The success is that we started off with 68 kids and we ended up with 68 kids even though we had some minor bouts of homesickness,” noted Cst. Howard.
“And when it was time to go home, the majority of the kids said they didn’t want to leave and that they were happy, and that made us feel good,” he added.
“It was an excellent way to measure success.”
“I’m really glad I came,” said Kyle Perrott, 11, of Fort Frances. “I learned how to resist drugs. I know how to say ‘no’ and how to avoid a violent situation.
“I learned that you try to resolve the problem and if you can’t, then you walk away,” he remarked.
SAP co-ordinator Elaine Caron has yet to evaluate the D.A.R.E. camp surveys turned in by the kids at the end of the week. But when she thumbed through the stack yesterday, positive comments weren’t hard to find.
“‘I’d like to come back,’ ‘This camp rules,’ Yummy food,’ ‘D.A.R.E. Camp is awesome and should be continued,’ ‘Thanks to the people who made these days possible,’” recited Caron.
Bonnie Bender of Emo, a member of the Rainy River District Community Policing Committee, was among the volunteers at camp all week. Within the first couple of days, she already could see the D.A.R.E. program working through the students.
“The D.A.R.E. model that Mark and Cam have come up with works well,” she stressed. “A lot of [D.A.R.E.’s] success is because of its morality ethics–kids become conscious of the way they should act and more aware of how other kids are feeling.”
Cst. Boileau also noted an important part of the D.A.R.E. camp was that kids got to know police officers as friends and team players outside of their jobs as authority figures.
“The kids see us in the classroom but we took it one step further,” he said. “[At camp], we were not in uniform and they saw us like anybody else [and] saw our commitment.”
“From a police perspective, it was an excellent opportunity to let [kids] see that we are people, too,” echoed Cst. Howard. “That was part of [the focus] as team-building.”