HUDSON – The fifth-grade class at Presentation of Mary Academy has worked with Hudson Police Officer Cassandra Avery and the DARE program this year.

The DARE program – Drug, Abuse, Resistance, Education – is composed of 10 lessons. Some of the topics covered at the fifth-grade level are how to express yourself confidently using verbal and nonverbal communication, stress management, learning the dangers of alcohol and tobacco use, identifying a ‘’help network’’ and learning how to become a good citizen.

The students have had the opportunity to role play in scenarios as well as work together to solve problems.

“It is my goal and DARE’S goal to help teach our youth how to be confident and make safe and responsible choices that will assist them in leading productive, healthy, drug-free lives,” Avery said.

The core theme in all 10 lessons is how to:

Define a problem.

Assess the options on how to handle the problem.

Respond to the problem after thinking about the options and the positive and negative consequences to them.

Evaluate – take a step back and reflect on whether they made a good choice and why they thought they did.