By Dave OBrien Record-Courier staff writer BRIMFIELD The fifth-grade classes at Brimfield Elementary School recently met the challenge of Drug Abuse Resistance Education by graduating from the program under the guidance of Brimfield police officer Bill Reese. At the recent DARE graduation ceremony, Judge Barbara Watson of the Portage County Municipal Court was a guest speaker. A plaque also was presented in honor of teacher Ed Conti, who will be retiring this year after 30 years of service to the students in the Field School District. More than 100 fifth-graders at Brimfield Elementary School were awarded for their resistance to drugs with T-shirts to wear for a DARE Day held last week. The backs of the T-shirts had the names of the students who graduated from the program on them. Each student also received a medal of achievement. Several students also were rewarded for writing essays in which they described what they learned in the DARE program and how it can continue to affect their lives in the future. Reese said the award-winning essays, for which the winners received plaques, were very tough to pick out. Future plans for the program are to introduce it to Field kindergarten students. Reese also is working with the Portage County Sheriffs Office on an eighth-grade version of the program. In June, Reese also will enter the Brimfield Police Department DARE car into the National DARE Car Show in Atlantic City, N.J. The car, covered with DARE decals and other designs, won second place in the Ohio DARE Car Show in 2002. E-mail: dobrien@recordpub.com Phone: (330) 296-9657
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