By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — With skit, song, dance and poetry, fifth-graders at the Frank Antonides School played out what they have learned during this year’s DARE program at a graduation ceremony held in the gym.
Each of the approximately 130 students who completed the course, which began between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, was awarded a certificate by Police Chief John Demaree.
Cpl. F. Douglas Haviland, the police officer who taught the course, said they talked about drugs, alcohol abuse, gangs and how to keep safe.
"But primarily I talked about drugs and alcohol abuse to keep them off that stuff," he said after the graduation formalities that were held on Wednesday.
The previous Friday, 30 students at St. Jerome’s School had their graduation from the DARE — or Drug Abuse Resistance Education — program.
Haviland, a police officer for 20 years, said he was convinced the DARE program makes a difference in the youngsters’ lives and the choices they make as they go forward.
"You approach them with the idea to be aware of what’s out there," he said, "and to keep off drugs."
"Their thinking is changing" at that age, Haviland said.
"This helps them out," he said.
Haviland said the students did very well in the classes he held. He gave each of them a DARE T-shirt, a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses.