 Trade it and upgrade it now at Appalachian Wireless and receive up to $700 off when you trade your old, eligible device in and upgrade to a new iPhone 14 Pro Max or Samsung S23 Ultra on an unlimited Appalachian advantage plan because we are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. On February 17th, Pikeville Elementary School held their 5th grade DARE program graduation. The 10-week course teaches the students lessons in helping others, bullying, and peer pressure. Pikeville PD Lt. Chad Branham goes more in-depth about teaching these valuable life lessons. Pikeville is a 10-week course. It's a 10-week core curriculum course that is provided through DARE America. It's only taught by certified DARE instructors, which there's only two of us in the whole all of Eastern Kentucky. During those 10 weeks we discuss things that people around their age group is going to be facing like stress, peer pressure, risk taking, bullying, confident communication, active listening, getting help from others, and helping others. So what it's kind of shifted towards now is how to avoid bad situations, how to get out of bad situations if you're already in them, who you can go to for help, what resources you have, and really get more in tune with your body and how to deal with stress and peer pressure. Here in about a year or two, people are going to see some studies that have been done over the last 15 years, since 2009, that's going to show how effective the new curriculum there is. It is very effective. As part of the graduation ceremony, select students were rewarded with prizes for turning in essays related to the lessons they learned during the program. Principal Glenda Atkins expresses her thoughts on seeing her students become educated on real-world subjects. Our experience with the Pikeville Police Department is unlike any other. They are phenomenal. They are present in their schools constantly, and the officers are always willing to talk to them, and it's a positive relationship. So they know where to go for if they need help or if they have a question. It's a real transformation, and it's an awesome experience to watch that as they become older and more grown up. We know that being exposed to the things through the day is making a difference, and the choices that they are making as they grow up. Reporting from Mountain Top News, I'm Nick Colum.