NEW ROLE — Wells Township Police Officer Shawn Starosciak, who is currently serving as a school resource officer at Buckeye North Elementary in Brilliant, has added a new role as DARE program officer. -- Contributed

BRILLIANT — Wells Township Police Officer Shawn Starociak has walked the halls of Buckeye North Elementary as school resource officer for the past two years. Now he is taking on a new role by leading the school’s DARE program.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education is a program that works with students in grades K-12 with grade-appropriate subjects such as peer pressure, drug dangers and making good decisions. Starosciak succeeds Wells Township Police Chief Sean Norman, who headed the program at North for nearly two decades but will continue in the post at Buckeye Local Junior High School.

Starosciak said he underwent DARE Academy training in Columbus from Sept. 8-19, where he joined nearly three-dozen law enforcement officers including Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies Matt Morgan and Ryan Gorby, who respectively serve as SRO’s at Indian Creek and Edison Local Schools.

Starosciak said the officers trained to work with grades K-12 and topics varied per grade, studying curriculum material and creating lesson plans to present to youth on topics ranging from 9-1-1 emergency calling to Stranger Danger. The trainees completed presentations at the academy before working with elementary school children in the Columbus area to put their skills to the test.

Starosciak returned to North and began implementing the program on Sept. 30, saying he has enjoyed the task because he is comfortable and familiar with the students.

“I love teaching DARE. It’s new,” he said, adding that he had a different career plan as a youth. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a math teacher, but after I was in the military I joined law enforcement.”

He has spent the past six years as a police officer and now instructs roughly 100 fourth- and fifth-grade students each Tuesday on lessons including over-the-counter and prescription drugs and introducing the DARE decision-making model.

Each session runs for 45 minutes, and he said the end goal is to ensure that kids make the right choices not only now, but in the future. “Now that I actually get to teach, it’s awesome. In one class, the kids are excited and really love to participate,” he added. “I love being in the school and I love teaching kids about what not to do. I want these kids to be good, outstanding individuals when they get older.”

He remains in touch with Norman, who has doled out some tidbits of advice about the role. Starosciak said he hoped to inspire youth and be a good mentor. “I get more involved with the children through the program and I have established a rapport with them through my time here,” he continued. “I want to be someone these kids can come up to if they have a problem.”