VIDALIA — Approximately 200 students pledged to say “no” to drugs, alcohol and violence Thursday afternoon as they graduated from the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office D.A.R.E. program at Vidalia Upper Elementary School.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches students how to resist peer pressure and live drug, alcohol and violence free lives.

The sheriff’s office enlists four police officers to participate in 12-week courses at the elementary schools in the parish.

Thursday’s graduation marked the 21st annual service for Sheriff Randy Maxwell, who originally started the program in 1991.

“This program means everything to me,” Maxwell said. “We’ve literally had thousands of children go through this program, and it’s just extremely important to start real young and educate them on the dangers of drugs and alcohol.”

During his speech Maxwell mentioned several graduates who graduated more than 15 years ago, but still call him to tell him how the program impacted their lives.

“That’s how I know it works,” Maxwell said. “It helps establish that deep relationship with law enforcement that is vital and critical.”

The graduation also highlighted the literary achievements of Dawson Thompson, who was selected as the overall essay winner for the entire fifth grade.

All students in the D.A.R.E. program are required to write the essay at the completion of the program, but only one is picked as the overall winner.

Thompson said once he got a few ideas and reviewed his class booklet, everything just came together.

“I started writing everything down, got more ideas and just started writing paragraphs,” Thompson said. “It felt really good being selected, and my mom was real proud of me.”

Thompson said he is thankful for the important life lessons the program has taught him.

“It’s helping us prepare for the next steps of life and getting through life,” Thompson said.

D.A.R.E. officers Lt. Uzella Frazier and Chief Bobby Sheppard are the two officers in charge of the program at Vidalia Upper.

The officers work through programs like the decision making model, where students are presented different potentially dangerous situations, pick the right action and discuss the consequences of all the possible actions.

During her closing remarks, Frazier began tearing up and later talked about how much the program impacted her life.

“I’m just glad to be able to give back to my community what my community gave me,” Frazier said. “What a better place to start than with the kids.”

Frazier said she was sad to be leaving her students, but is glad to have been able to share the important of living a drug free life to them.

“I know that these students are equipped for the future because they know what alcohol drugs and violence can do to them, their families and the community,” Frazier said. “If they do decide to make a bad choice, they know there is a consequence.”

Fifth grader Katie Dunson said the D.A.R.E. program taught her the dangers of using drugs and alcohol.

“I learned how 86 percent of teenagers use drugs and how they affect your lungs to give you breathing problems,” Dunson said. “They can also affect your brain.”

Dunson said she was happy to receive her diploma, but knows it won’t be the last time she uses what she learned in the program.

“It feels good, but I still want to keep using what I learned for the rest of my life,” Dunson said.

The sheriff’s office will have its last graduation ceremony today at 1 p.m. at Ferriday Upper.