DARE play

Trisha Adami as Raggedy Ann; Daren the D.A.R.E. Lion as himself; Tech. Sgt. Cedric Newton, 18th Security Forces Squadron flight chief; and Erna Waller as Raggedy Andy pose with Ella Adams, Laura McCallion, Laci Webb, Kathryn Codiamat, Alexis Orr and Ellie Dolan, Stearley Heights Elementary School students, during a Drug Abuse Resistance Education presentation at SHES on Kadena Air Base, Japan, Oct. 20. After leading the audience in reciting the Drug Free Pledge, Officer-Be-Helpful inducted 93 SHES kindergarteners as citizens into Daren the Lion’s Drug-Free Community. (Courtesy photo)

Stearley Heights Elementary School DAREs to be drug-free

Published Oct. 26, 2011
By Angie Fino
Stearley Heights Elementary School

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- The Kadena Drug Abuse Resistance Education program presented a performance of "Darren's D.A.R.E.-To-Be-Drug-Free Community" to an all-kindergarten audience at 10 a.m. Oct. 20 in the Stearley Heights Elementary School gymnasium.

The play featured Darren the Lion, the official mascot of the D.A.R.E. program; legendary storybook characters Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy; and representatives from the 18th Security Forces Squadron.

Several student performers from Susan Kemp's gifted education class also helped to teach the kindergarten audience several ways to resist and say, "No" to drugs, alcohol and gangs. The original play was written and directed by De De Brown-Johnson, SHES kindergarten teacher.

All of the kindergarten students in the audience as well as the student performers wore white t-shirts with the "100% Me ... Drug Free!" D.A.R.E. logo across the front.

The play was a kick-off activity to Red Ribbon Week Oct. 24 - 31 at Stearley Heights Elementary School. Judy Haynes and Teresa Latham, second-grade teachers and Red Ribbon Week coordinators, planned numerous daily activities for the student body in support of this year's theme, "It's Up to ME to Be DRUG FREE!"

The culminating event to this drug-abuse awareness week will be a Red Ribbon Parade on Oct. 31. The student body will begin walking at 12:15 p.m. and will proceed through the local Stearley Heights housing area then return to the school.

The D.A.R.E. program began in 1983.