Sgt. Josh Van Oort wrapped up his 10-week D.A.R.E. program at Purcell Intermediate School last week.
Van Oort announced the first and second place essay winners in each of the five sections and gave all particicpants a graduation certificate.
Van Oort, with assistance from Sgt. John Idlett, Ofc. Jeremy Pittman and Ofc. Daniel Fumi, dished out pizza and soft drinks to the eager (and hungry) 10, 11 and 12-year-old students.
The students went through 43 pizzas in no time flat while chasing the pies down with Dr. Pepper, Pepsi or Starry, which is Pepsi’s version of Sprite.
About 65 percent of the kids asked for Dr. Pepper as their drink of choice but none of the 20 2 liter bottles of liquid went to waste.
Students were given two slices of pizza with choices being cheese, pepperoni and Italian Sausage, purchased by an anonymous donor.
After all of the 104 students had their two slices they were welcome to come back to take any remaining slices of pie to satisfy their growing bodies.
D.A.R.E. is the acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, a program that is offered annually to fifth graders here.
It is a drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip elementary, middle and high school children with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse and skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
The program was founded in 1983 by Daryl Gates, who served as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department for 14 years.
Essay contest winners included Taryn Knowles, Klaire Wilhoit, Breklyn Gilley, Chandler Wilken and Kynlee Davis.
Runner-up essay contest winners were Blayne Crosswhite, Paisley Lopez, Lauren Black, Brielle Gardner and Kiley Leonard.
All of the first and second place winners in each section received a certificate with the winners getting a stuffed animal.
The overall grand champion essay was written by Breklyn Gilley.
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