Week 1: Students Learn To Use DARE Decision Making Process

As students go through the 10-week D.A.R.E. program, readers will have the opportunity to learn more about their program right here on the Antelope County News.

This weekly column will go through each lesson for the next 10 weeks as it’s taught to the students.

This program focuses on the D.A.R.E. decision making model practice, which stands for Define, Assess, Respond, Evaluate.
1. Define: Describe the problem, challenge or opportunity.
2. Assess: What are your choices?
3. Respond: Make a choice. Use the facts and information you have gathered.
4. Evaluate: Review your decision. Did you make a good choice?

Youth and adults can use the D.A.R.E. decision making model numerous times every day. 

The situation talked about in this lesson is playing a soccer team. The team depends on you as a goalkeeper, but you’ve been invited to your best friend’s birthday party at the same time as the big game. To go to the party, you would miss the game. How do you decide what to do?

That’s when the D.A.R.E. decision making model come into play and helps the youth make a decision. 
Next week, we’ll move on to Lesson 2, which tackles some tough topics for both youth and parents. 
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Antelope County’s D.A.R.E. program runs through donations from the community. The graduation t-shirts and booklets are purchased using those donations.  If you’d like to offer a donation to D.A.R.E., take cash or mail a check it to the Antelope County Sheriff’s Department in Neligh. Please specify in the memo that this is for the D.A.R.E. program