For the Tomahawk Leader

TOMAHAWK – Students from the School District of Tomahawk and St. Mary’s School recently graduated from the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program.

A total of 85 fifth graders from five classes received certificates for completing the program during a ceremony in the Tomahawk High School auditorium on Wednesday, April 5.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Holly Steckbauer led the classes.

A post on the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page said the students “wrote letters from their fifth grade selves to their future eighth grade selves reminding them what they learned throughout the course of the program and reaffirming why they should continue to choose to say no to drugs and alcohol.”

The top three letters from each class received special recognition at the ceremony, with the first-place winners sharing their letters with those in attendance.

The Sheriff’s Office noted that D.A.R.E. mascot Daren the Lion, who represents the courage it takes to be your own person and say no to drugs and violence, made a surprise guest appearance.

“We are so incredibly proud of the time and dedication that ‘Deputy Holly,’ as the kids know her by, has continually poured into this program over the last seven years, and the profound positive influence that her commitment has made in the lives of so many of our children and their futures,” the Sheriff’s Office stated.