Thompson Brook Students 'D.A.R.E.' to be Drug Free

Even in the small quiet town of Avon, students have seen people show up at high school sporting events drunk or on drugs.

“No matter how clean your town is, there are always going to be people who push the limits,” sixth grader Riley Cunningham wrote in her first-prize Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program essay, which Avon Police Officer Lisa Petkis read aloud at a graduation ceremony for 176 Thompson Brook sixth graders Tuesday.

Cunningham and other upper elementary students wrote in their essays about how educating kids about the dangers of drugs and teaching them to combat peer pressure is important in reducing drug and alcohol abuse in communities.

“It focuses on building self esteem, confidence and self respect,” Avon Police Officer Todd Akerley said of the D.A.R.E. program.

Before Akerley and Police Officer Lisa Petkis gave the first semester program graduates diplomas, students did skits and read poems about standing up to peer pressure and the consequences of actions including drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana or tobacco, or even huffing glue. Class by class, the students shared all they learned from D.A.R.E., which serves "to keep kids off drugs," as stated on a banner hanging at the gym during the ceremony.

“That phrase, ‘everybody's doing it,’ isn't the way it sounds," said Petkis, noting the true “strength in numbers” lies with a larger group who is saying no to drug and alcohol use.

Cunningham, who won a Nook Color from the Avon Police Association for her essay, wrote about the value of friendships formed through D.A.R.E.

“Friendship seems to play a major role in the start of an addicting habit,” Cunningham wrote, also noting that it’s friends that can work together to stand up to peer pressure.

Rachel Levine, Ayushi Hedge, Priyanka Basu, Tessa Panczener, Alex Clonan, McKenzie Reed, Amparo Saubidet and Brendan LeDuc were recognized as essay winners from the eight classes involved. Jack Stokesbury and Carly Carpino were the overall "boy and girl winners."

Samuel Finch and Caroline Nisbet received honorable mentions.

Avon Police Chief Mark Rinaldo, Lt. Christina Barrow, Board of Education Chairwoman Peggy Roell, school board Vice Chairman William Stokesbury, Thompson Brook School Principal Anne Watson and Assistant Principal James Pappa were also there to celebrate the graduation.

The Simsbury McDonalds, Avon Big Y and Thompson Brook School Parent Teacher Organization provided refreshments after the ceremony.

“Now that D.A.R.E. is over, we'll have to find something else to look forward to,” Cunningham wrote. “Our futures.”