GILROY
– They know why not to do drugs – today they’re learning why
they never want to go to prison.
GILROY – They know why not to do drugs – today they’re learning why they never want to go to prison.
Twenty-eight Gilroy Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) students will visit Alcatraz today as a reward for their winning essays written about their D.A.R.E. experience.
Five Gilroy Police Department officers will chaperone the winners to The Rock, giving the fifth-graders a real-life view into the lonely life of a prison inmate.
“This is a reward for the hard work these kids have put in and the excellent understanding of the D.A.R.E. program they have displayed,” said Sgt. Daniel Castaneda with the GPD’s Neighborhood Resource unit. “These kids show why this program makes a difference.”
The 28 students were selected from a pool of nearly 900 Gilroy fifth-graders expected to graduate from the D.A.R.E. program this year. To graduate from the program, students are required to write an essay on what they learned during the 13 hour-long classes taught to them by GPD officers throughought the school year.
Each winners’ essay was selected as the best from their class; selections were made by GPD officers and D.A.R.E. teachers Pat Sullivan and Mariabel Gutierrez.
The GPD will pay for today’s trip, which Castaneda said will cost around $2,800.
“These kids have earned it,” Castaneda said. “Hopefully this will enforce in them some of the things we’ve tried to get across with (D.A.R.E.).”
