St. Joe students complete D.A.R.E.

NEWTON — The fifth grade class at St. Joseph school in Newton recently completed a D.A.R.E. program sponsored by the Newton police department. D.A.R.E. stands for drug abuse resistance education. D.A.R.E. is a national program that was founded in 1983 to provide school aged children with the tools they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence. Detective Thomas Tosti met with the fifth graders for ten consecutive weeks and discussed the harmful effects of smoking, illegal drugs and alcohol. Each student was required to create a poster and essay at the conclusion of the D.A.R.E. program reflecting what they had learned. A student named Anthony was the winner of the poster contest and Ronan Smarth was the winner of the essay contest. The following is an excerpt from Ronan’s essay; “Since I got to participate in the D.A.R.E. Program, I have realized how serious smoking, alcohol, drugs and illegal drugs can be to not only our bodies, but those around us. We can hurt not only ourselves, but also friends and family when we let these bad habits take over our lives.” St. Joseph School will be holding an open house for perspective students and their parents on Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anyone interested in more information call the school at 973-83-2909.