BISMARCK, N.D., - For teachers looking for help educating their students on real life experiences and instilling healthy choices, lessons in goal setting, and building good decision making skills based on positive peer pressure, these Soldiers are a lifesaver.
A new National Guard program called "Stay on Track" is an evidence-based drug and alcohol prevention course aimed at teaching middle school students healthy choices. The program is part of the National Guard Counterdrug Program, which operates in all 54 states and territories.
Its mission is to "utilize the unique National Guard resources to help create the best opportunity for America's youth to make the commitment to be drug-free."
National Guard members in North Dakota have been working to implement this program into middle schools through the National Guard Counterdrug Drug Demand Reduction Program course.
Currently, only two schools have used the "Stay on Track" program in North Dakota. Turtle Lake recently finished their program for the year and expressed positive feedback afterward.
"I learned from this program that reality can be different from perception," said eighth grade student Koh Miller.
The "Stay on Track" course consists of 12 lessons for each middle school grade level. Each lesson takes about one class period. Lessons have been developed specifically for 6th through 8th grade students and appeal to all types of learners, providing for real-world life skills development.
Upon completion of the course, students understand the negative health effects of drug use, become prepared to set short and long term goals, understand the techniques of effective communication, become prepared to respond to negative peer pressure and are able to make the commitment to being drug free.
The program is especially unique because National Guard members instruct each lesson. 2nd Lt. Patrick Joyce said, "Grade school students seem to enjoy having a uniformed member taking part of their class and presenting materials that help them learn in a fun, friendly, educational manner and they are very open with us."
Staff Sgt. Melanie Vincent adds, "They tell you the truth. They seem to tell us things they wouldn't normally tell the teachers."
The "Stay on Track" course was developed by the National Center for Prevention and Research Solutions. The interactive and dynamic content of the program reaches out to students. The evidence-based lessons teach the students how to make positive life choices.
The National Guard instructors help create the friendly and trusting environment to encourage the students to interact and discuss topics that they might not otherwise discuss so that, ultimately, they are able to learn.
"Maybe they've seen a lot more and they've experienced it so you know it's real," says sixth grade Turtle Lake student Tasha Williams. "If you do drugs, it can change your life and you can harm other people. You can lose everything you've worked for in your whole life."