Christopher G.

D.A.R.E  Report

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Have you ever wondered what the health effects from smoking and drinking
are? Have you ever wondered what bullying really means and how it can
affect your life? Well, I’m here to tell you about all these topics, and
D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E. is a very well designed program. In D.A.R.E., the three main topics
I learned about are drinking, alcohol, alcohol abuse, smoking, tobacco, and
bullying. The first main topic is the health effects from smoking. Lots of
people know that smoking is very bad for your body, but in D.A.R.E. we go
much more into detail about the health effects. First of all, we learned
that  there are over 200 known chemicals in cigarettes. This is very scary
because there can be many more chemicals than just 200. We also learned
that smoking is the leading cause of death in our country. For example,
more than 400,000 Americans die every year due to smoking and tobacco.
Smoking also causes heart disease, lung cancer, stained and yellow teeth,
dry skin, and wrinkles.

The second main topic I learned about is drinking alcohol and alcohol abuse.
Alcohol is a dangerous and very powerful substance to get addicted to. It
can make you drunk and unaware. One serious impact on your body is that
alcohol can slow down the brain and all of its functions. This can be very
dangerous because the brain is one of the most highly functioning parts in
your body, and without your brain working properly, it can cause serious
damage to your body. A few other health effects are poor judgement,
memory loss, loss of self-control, and slow reflexes. But there are two
major health effects from alcohol. These two things are that alcohol
weakens the heart muscles, and it reduces the amount of blood pumped to
and from the heart. The heart is another part of the body that is vital.
And without it, you will die.

The last main topic I learned about is bullying. Bullying is a broad topic, but
in D.A.R.E., we learn a lot more about it. The definition of bullying is when
someone is repeatedly being rude, making fun of, or hurting another person.
It’s not considered bullying if it only happens once or twice. It’s also not
considered bullying because there isn’t a pattern. One example of bullying
that I learned about was that some kids in the cafeteria wouldn’t let
another child sit with them. This is an example of bullying because they
were constantly picking on the other child and were being really rude and
obnoxious. Bullying is a serious issue, but it was interesting to learn more
about it.

D.A.R.E. is a very important program that supports awareness to help stop
drug and alcohol abuse. In D.A.R.E. we learned what D.A.R.E. actually means.
D.A.R.E. stands for Define, Asses, Respond, Evaluate.

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D.

Define- Describe the problem, challenge, or opportunity.

A.

Assess- What are the choices?

R.

Respond-Make a choice. Use the facts and information given.

E.

Evaluate- Review the decision. Was it a good choice?

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I learned a lot about D.A.R.E. But, it’s also important to use it in real life
situations too. It’s important to think about the situation and stay calm.
D.A.R.E. is important and and it’s a great way to handle stressful situations
and I guarantee it. One situation that happened to me was when I had to
decide between going to my best friends birthday party and going to an
important tennis match. I decided to go to the match and I invited my
friend over to my house the next day to make up for not going to the party.
After my friend left, I thought about the D.A.R.E. model and assessed my
choice. This is a good example of using the D.A.R.E. model in real life
because it shows the stress of deciding between being there for your
friend or being there for your teammates.

Now you know the effects from smoking, tobacco, alcohol, and bullying.
D.A.R.E. is an effective, useful, and helpful to use, and I learned a lot from
it.