DILLONVALE, Ohio — Each week, Wells Township Police Chief Sean Norman steps into classrooms at Buckeye Local Schools and sports a different title, that of DARE officer.
He has been speaking to second, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Buckeye North in Brilliant and eighth graders at Buckeye Local Jr. High School in Connorville for nearly two decades, and even though the audience has changed, the message has remained the same: making good decisions and having a good character.
Chief Norman spends his Tuesdays at North for a 10-week period and Thursdays at the junior high for the entire year and delivers age-appropriate programs designed to help kids stay on the right path.
DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, but Chief Norman applies real-life scenarios to a wide variety of topics.
His most recent session on BLJHS dealt with communication and conflict, and one story centered on peer pressure to drink alcohol. More topics range from taking risks to what people believe is happening versus the truth.
He also identified a decision-making model that includes defining or describing a situation, assessing choices, responding with a strategy, and evaluating what happened and if the strategy worked.
Chief Norman delves into different topics with the various grades and builds upon them throughout the sessions.
He has been providing the program since around 2005 and said the goal is to build character and make good choices.
Several eighth-graders said they liked working with him and have been learning a lot from the sessions.
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