DARE PROGRAM AT NORTH — Wells Township Police Chief Sean Norman conducts his latest session of the DARE program for students at Buckeye North Elementary School. Norman has served as DARE officer for nearly two decades and will continue working with Buckeye Local Junior High School, while North Elementary SRO and Wells Township Police Officer Shawn Starosciak will take over at his building next year. -- Contributed

BRILLIANT — Wells Township Police Chief Sean Norman visited Buckeye North Elementary School to share lessons through the DARE Program.

Norman has served as the Buckeye Local School District’s DARE officer for almost 20 years. He plans to hand over the reins to North SRO and Wells Township Officer Shawn Starosciak to lead the program next year. For now, the chief conducts weekly sessions for second-, fourth- and fifth-grade classes at Buckeye North, as well as for sixth and eighth grades at Buckeye Local Junior High School.

“This is my 19th year as a DARE officer and I’ve been here at North since the beginning of the year,” Norman said. “There are different subjects every week and I spend half a year with the younger grades and all year with the fifth and sixth grades. The SRO will take over the elementary DARE program next year and I will remain at the junior high.”

He added it was only fitting for Starosciak to take over since he was primarily at the school.

“Throughout the years, I’ve established a rapport with the students, but he’s here and it makes sense,” Norman commented.

While DARE focuses on drug abuse education, Norman said the lessons he shares apply to many life situations. His latest sessions differ for each grade and range from handling stressful situations to safety. He spoke to fifth-grade students about making good choices and offered scenarios such as facing peer pressure from friends and avoiding arguments.

“Stay true to yourself,” he said, offering advice to follow the acronym DARE. “It stands for Define (the problem), Assess, Respond and Evaluate, and allows the youth to clearly ponder their best course of action in a given situation.”

Norman said students deal with stress every day, asking students for examples. Several replied homework and failing classes. He stated they needed to take time to think and then make the best choices to respond. Norman said the lessons were age-appropriate and sessions varied for each grade.