Dennis Linn Clay county school resource office [Click to enlarge]

Hello, my name is Dennis Linn. I am a member of the Clay County Sheriff's office. I am also a School Resource Officer for Clay Central-Everly and South Clay schools. I have taught D.A.R.E. at these schools for the past 15 years. During those years I have gotten to know the kids and experience what I believe each of the classroom teachers feel about their classroom students. I feel the closeness, the fondness and the regret for those students that just don't seem to get what you are talking about. When I see a past D.A.R.E. students' name or picture in the paper, I recall having them in D.A.R.E. class and feel a sense of pride that I had a very small piece of the student's time while they were growing up and becoming successful. I also feel a sense of regret when I see the past students who were not successful, who maybe got involved with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs which we talk about in D.A.R.E.

On April 16, 2008, during D.A.R.E. class at South Clay School, I invited four high school role models to come back to their elementary school to talk with fifth and sixth grade students about how they were successful with school, their communities and families. The role models were recommended by the schools they came from. Then they were contacted to make sure that they could and would have no trouble saying that they have never used tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and any other illegal drugs. The D.A.R.E. role model lesson is one of the teachers, as well as my, favorite lesson.

At South Clay Community School the children attend classes from preschool through sixth grade and then have the option of three different middle schools/high schools to attend. I remember back when I was a kid, we switched from our elementary school in my neighborhood to middle school where we joined more than 100 other middle school students. This was very scary. South Clay Community Schools and their middle school, high school counterparts do a very good job orienting the elementary students to attend their middle schools; but with the D.A.R.E. role models, the students are able to experience yet even another opinion of how to fit in with the new groups.

(Submitted photo) From left: Abby Salton, Madella Smith, Caitlin Patten and Cassidy Smith. [Order this photo]

Our role models for this year were: Abby Salton, the daughter of Russ and Sue Salton, who lives in the southeast part of Clay County, she is a senior at Spencer High School. She is very well known in Clay County because of being involved in so many extracurricular activities. This last year she was the Clay County Fair Queen and the Iowa State Fair Queen. But these were not the experiences that she spoke the most about. To Abby, it was the efforts on the basketball court and the friendships that she remembers the best. The accomplishments that she and her teammates attained in going onto the state tournament were very important to her. She also mentioned soccer, 4-H and many, many other activities. Abby plans on attending Creighton University in Omaha this fall where she will be majoring in nursing.

Madella Smith is the daughter of Brett and Mary Jo Smith from the Dickens area. Madella is also a senior at Spencer High School. Madella also stressed the importance of keeping her grades up. Keeping very good grades, completing homework as soon as possible and not procrastinating were some of Madella's words of wisdom. While Madella's favorite extracurricular activities included playing soccer on the high school team and coaching a youth soccer league, she's also been involved in debate, band, jazz band, concert band, small group ensembles, the German American Partnership Program, 4-H and the Iowa Youth Action Committee as a high school student. She plans to attend Drake University this fall, majoring in English and prelaw.

Caitlin Patten, the daughter of Doug and Carol Patten, is from the Webb area and is a senior at Sioux Central School in Sioux Rapids. Caitlin's favorite extracurricular activities included cheerleading for the high school teams. Caitlin plans to attend UNI this fall, majoring in special education or possibly speech pathology.

Cassidy Smith is the daughter of Marvin and Rhonda Smith from Dickens. Cassidy is a junior at Ruthven-Aryshire School in Ruthven. Cassidy is undecided on her future plans at this time. Cassidy did state that she may be interested in some type of accounting as math is one of her better classes.

After the role models introduced themselves, they briefly spoke about their grades, classes, and extracurricular activities that they are involved in. They also spoke about their future plans concerning education and occupations.

The role models then answered questions from the students and teachers. All of the role models stressed the importance of doing their very best in their classes and keeping good grades. They talked about their very busy schedules and getting their homework done. They recommended that you never procrastinate, that as soon as possible to work on and complete the homework. While all of them are involved in extracurricular activities and/or work, they always place the importance of school work ahead of the extra things. One of the girls stated that boyfriends fit into the weekend if they want to see them. One question which did come up several times concerned peer pressure to use alcohol or tobacco. The role models did a very nice job explaining that they had been asked to use, but refused the offers and felt good about sticking to their choices. They talked about hanging out with groups that had the same feelings about using tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. One role model made the comment that "nothing positive will ever come of you using alcohol". This made me think back to when our role models were in D.A.R.E. and lesson three was on consequences. After defining consequences, we listed the consequences of using and not using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. We then judged if the consequences had positive or negative effects on our lives. Almost always the "using" column had negative consequences and the "not using" column had positive consequences. Had she remembered this from D.A.R.E.?

Some other questions that were asked by the students were: "Do you lose friends by refusing?" "How did you feel when you refused?" "Were you every bullied?" "How did you handle this?" "What is the hardest thing about high school?" "What is the funniest thing about high school?" "What do you and your friends do on weekends?" "What would you recommend to be successful in high school?"

After the role models answered all of the students questions, we spent the last 10 minutes of class time playing a D.A.R.E. game. I had the D.A.R.E. students team up by going to their assigned area to meet with their teammates. Then a role model was asked to join each of the D.A.R.E. teams. We then practiced some of our refusal techniques. Each team was asked to complete a sentence, quickly and correctly. I then gave each team a scenario in which they were offered alcohol, tobacco or marijuana. The team spokesperson then had to answer, "No, because…" During round two I had the team spokesperson answer "No, I'd rather…" For round three I asked the team spokesperson to combine the responses by saying, "No, because …I'd rather…" This was a fun team activity to reinforce refusal techniques.
This also allowed each of the D.A.R.E. students to have several minutes of time with the role models. It was very fun to watch the interaction between the role models and the students. We then practiced some cheers and took several photos.

I heard from the teachers and agree with them that it was great to hear the high school role models talk about how important doing well in school is to them and that this affects the rest of their lives. It is so much fun to see the high school role models return to the old schools as well. I enjoyed seeing the teachers welcome the students back and seeing the delight in the teachers' eyes when the high school students spoke of their successes and future plans. Again I experienced the satisfaction that the teachers must experience each time they see their past students succeed.

I want to thank the D.A.R.E. role models for being such great role models for their families, school, churches and communities. "Even when no one is watching." We are very lucky to have so many good role models in our schools and communities.

When looking for D.A.R.E. role models, I have to limit the number of role models that I bring to the elementary school, otherwise I would have more role models than students. What a wonderful problem that is!