THOUSAND OAKS : 6th-Graders Honored at DARE Ceremonies

With a Civic Arts Plaza ceremony that promised “personal commitment speeches,” remarks from the mayor of Thousand Oaks and a karate demonstration, 1,200 sixth-graders on Monday celebrated the culmination of their Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

Another 1,200 students will attend a similar DARE ceremony tonight, according to Senior Deputy Patti Dreyer of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The 17-week program gives students information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and teaches them decision-making skills, Dreyer said.

The curriculum, taught by sheriff’s deputies, also encourages students to stay away from gangs, she said.

Dreyer said the ceremonies would include the announcement of the DARE “students of the year,” along with entertainment, skits, poems and speeches by DARE students about their commitment to stay away from drugs, alcohol and gangs.

“It’s just a way for all the kids to be rewarded,” Deputy Lee Morris said. “It should be kind of fun.”

Morris said that with 24 east county schools involved in the programs, the students, parents and teachers could not all fit in Probst Theater at the Civic Arts Plaza in one night.

DARE programs have existed in Thousand Oaks since 1986, Morris said, but this is the first time there has been a ceremony combining all the schools.

The opening of the Civic Arts Plaza provided a site for such a ceremony for the first time, he said.