D.A.R.E Graduation

This morning was the 5th grade D.A.R.E graduation at Ben's school. His is one of only a few elementary schools  in the district that participates in the D.A.R.E program, which is a collaboration between the police department and the school. The ceremony was very sweet, with the mayor and several police officers in attendance including the 5th grade's D.A.R.E officer, Officer Green. She has spent the last few months not only teaching a weekly class to the kids on drug and alcohol abuse prevention, but she has also accompanied them as a chaperone on their Thunderbird camping trip, attended class functions such as Ben's poetry recital last week, and really formed a relationship with the kids. (This was ratheer evident as she cried during her closing speech).

Here is a video of the 5th graders performing Stand By Me:




And Ben and the rest of Ms Ebert's class receiving their certificates. The dress code for the ceremony was jeans and the supplied D.A.R.E t shirt, and the jeans caused quite a misery for us this morning because Ben does not wear jeans and only had one pair which were more than a year old and shall we say, a little too tight.( "I can't move my legs!" he complained this morning).