Stay Bright, Fight Drugs

Did you know, more than 480,000 Americans die each year from tobacco related causes? Did you know almost 50,000 deaths per year can be attributed to secondhand smoke? Well, I learned this fact from my D.A.R.E., (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), class, through Officer Brittany Brodniak and Officer Chris McRae. D.A.R.E. has taught me and hundreds of other kids ways to avoid drugs, why to avoid them, and many other helpful skills. Today, I’m going to share with you some ways to control stress, avoid drugs, and how to show confidence while speaking. I will also share with you the D.A.R.E. decision making model, or the D.D.M.M.. Come on let’s go!

Let’s start with ways to control stress. When you are in a stressful situation, your body can send you some signs, telling you that you are stressed out. You may feel your palms getting sweaty, maybe a headache coming, and/or your face getting warm. These are some signs that show stress. Now when you get into the situation, you can’t go back into time and reverse your actions! So, you have to find a way to calm down. You can count backwards from five or ten and/or take a few deep breaths. You can also use any other way that helps you to calm down. The best way to check if what you’re doing is right, is by using the D.A.R.E. decision making model, or the D.D.M.M.. The four simple steps are define, assess, respond, and evaluate. They spell the word D.A.R.E.. For example, if you fall down and trip, your friends might start laughing. When you try to get up, you could fall down again. Your friends could laugh even harder and other people around you could start laughing. You might want to scream. You need take a deep breath and use the D.D.M.M.. Start by restating the problem in your head. Then, think about what you could do, and maybe their consequences. Next, make a choice, what you want to do. After that, check to make sure that the decision you made will have a good effect. Finally, act upon your choice. These are a few ways that you can control stress.

Now there are many ways to avoid drugs, but my favorite way is using resistance skills. This year, my D.A.R.E. officers have taught me five ways to resist drugs. For example, if you’re walking home from school everyday, and see a group of boys smoking in a corner, don’t go that way! Avoid the situation! Then as you walk on, you meet up with your friends and talk about how your day was. A boy comes up to you and asks you and your friends to smoke. You can all say no, using the strength in numbers strategy. You say goodbye to your friends and continue walking home. A girl comes up to you and asks you to drink. You should say no and walk away. You continue your journey home, and see your best friend’s brother. He comes up to you, and asks you to have a beer. You can give him an excuse or reason to say no, and continue on home. Finally outside your door, one of your old friends who is now a user, asks you to smoke. Just say no and change the subject. Play a game of basketball or something else instead. After the game, just go home. These are the resistance skills that my D.A.R.E. officers have taught me. I hope that eventually no one would ever use drugs, especially not at an illegal age or at an overuse. Never.

Another of the very important things that my officers have taught me are communication styles and confident communication. If you friend comes up to you and says sorry about something they did in an unsure way, you probably wouldn’t think that the apology was sincere. If they said sorry in a demanding way by saying something like, “I’m sorry, okay! I didn’t mean it! Maybe stop getting on my nerves next time!” you probably wouldn’t accept that apology either. If they came to you, looked at you straight in the eye, and talked confidently saying sorry, you would probably accept the apology. The way you confidently talk in a situation is called confident communication. I personally think that this is an amazing concept to teach us. It builds public speaking skills in front of a audience of people. That’s what I learned about confident speaking in D.A.R.E..

Today we learned about some ways to control stress, avoid drugs, and how to show confidence while speaking. We also learned about the D.D.M.M. and how to use it in difficult situations. I will make sure to always take a few deep breaths and count back from five when I’m in a stressful situation. I will also use the D.D.M.M. when I’m not sure about the decisions that I’m making. To keep myself and others safe, I will use resistance skills, and will hopefully NEVER, EVER do drugs. I will also speak confidently wherever I am and in every situation. I really much enjoyed this year with my two D.A.R.E. officers, Officer Brittany Brodniak and Officer Chris McRae, and in the end, I would like to truly thank them for teaching me all of these skills and more this year. I would also like to thank them, and all of the officers in our country, for all of their service and time from their families and friends to protect us, our state, and our country. Thank you. Thank you very much.

By Haala Masroor