Safe and Healthy Choices

I mentioned in my opening letter of the school-year that Saint David's, as a result of our on-going comprehensive curriculum initiative, has further defined our DASH (Drug, Alcohol, Sex and Health) program in the 6th and 8th grades. In addition to a variety of curricular channels, including homeroom discussions, responsive classroom, daily chapel, religion and DASH classes, we are partnering with a new group that we feel will provide for our boys a very tangible experiential based curriculum that focuses on making safe and healthy choices and decisions. Prepare Inc. teaches teenagers how to assess and safely manage challenging interpersonal situations.

Our goal here is to connect the boys and their parents to real pressures that boys often face at this age with effective strategies for responding to and managing these pressures. The new focus of the program is on developing a boy’s ability to set boundaries, identify risk, and respond to real life situations that he could or is likely to encounter, such as: social peer pressure, peer pressure regarding academics, alcohol and other substances, sexual experimentation, street smarts and social messaging. A small portion of the program will teach basic self-defense skills to be used in an emergency. The boys will be actively engaged in discussion and dynamic role-play scenarios about topics that are important to them and that they are likely to encounter in their immediate futures.

Sixth and Eighth grade boys and their parents will be participating in a series of classes beginning this month.

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