Q&A
Cody Macaulay of Sierra Middle School in Parker is the winner of the Deputy Ronald M. King Memorial Award as the Douglas County DARE student of the year for his essay on resisting drugs and alcohol. He participated in the program at Frontier Valley Elementary during the 2005-06 school year.
The award was presented last week at the DARE graduation ceremony at Ponderosa High School.
Q: Tell me about your essay.
A: Well, my DARE essay came from the top of my head, so basically I free-wrote the whole thing. Except I did look at my DARE book a couple of times to help get my facts straight. At the bottom of the essay, I wrote about a past run-in I had with drugs and how it affected people I know in their lives.
Q: What did you get out of the DARE program?
A: I got a lot more than I thought I would, that’s for sure. I didn’t know how bad drugs and alcohol really were until I finished the DARE program. … It’s hard to believe that drugs and alcohol could kill you. And also it’s all the stuff they put in the drugs and alcohol. I never really thought that a cigarette and a marijuana joint had so much in them. It’s just mind-blowing.
Q: Why do you think young people get into drugs and alcohol in the first place?
A: I think that it’s the parents that influence it, more than peer pressure from people their age that think they know about drugs and alcohol. They see their parents drink a glass of liquor and they think that it doesn’t hurt you, or they see their parents smoke a cigarette and they think it won’t hurt you. They don’t see it as something bad. They think it’s OK to do it, just because their parents do it.
Q: What do you think schools or adults could do to help keep kids off drugs and alcohol?
A: I think that adults should be more careful on what they do in front of their kids. What they see might reflect on what they’ll do later on. … Schools should be more careful on what kids talk about in school. You never know if someone is planning on smoking or drinking or doing drugs after school. Teachers should know when a kid hasn’t slept or if their eyes are bloodshot or they keep sniffing and coughing and or breathing heavily.
– Joey Bunch, Denver Post staff writer
REGIONAL NOTES
PARKER
Arctic sea-ice loss to be examined
Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, will talk about the rate of Arctic sea-ice loss, as well as a general warming trend that has been observed since the 1880s, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Parker Library.
The lecture is free, but registration is required.
For more information, call the library at 303-791- 7323. Parker Library is located at 10851 S. Crossroads Drive, on the northwest corner of Parker Road and Mainstreet.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Kindergarten registration begins
Elementary schools in Jefferson County will hold kindergarten registration today through Jan. 24 for fall classes. Students must be 5 years old by Oct. 1 to enter kindergarten and be 6 years old by that date to enter first grade.
All neighborhood schools offer full- or half-day kindergarten programs. Check with the school for registration times and dates.
To register for kindergarten, parents should take a birth certificate and proof of immunizations and address. Students must be immunized in accordance with Colorado Immunization Law. Check with the child’s doctor and take an up-to-date immunization card.
DENVER POST STAFF REPORTS
