Nye County Sheriff Anthony DeMeo announced the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) graduation celebration for the fifth-grade J.G. Johnson Elementary and Floyd Elementary students who have successfully completed their 10-week D.A.R.E. Program.

The graduation will be held at Skate Zone and commence after two hours of skating and laser tag, provided free to the graduating classes courtesy of Skate Zone.

Approximately 150 students are expected to graduate.

D.A.R.E. began in 1983 and is now taught in more that 300,000 classrooms in 50 states and 53 countries around the world. It was adopted in the Nye County schools in 1989 as a joint effort of the Nye County School District and the Nye County Sheriff's Office.

Under the direction of specialty-trained veteran NCSO School Resource Officer Mary Huggins, the students have learned valuable interpersonal communication skills needed to resist the pressures of drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence.

The classes include extensive role-laying on practical ways to resist pressures to experiment with drugs and alcohol and to avoid violence.

The D.A.R.E. lessons focus upon four major areas: providing accurate information about alcohol and drugs; teaching students decision-making skills; showing students how to resist peer pressure and providing positive alternatives to drug use and violence.

The graduation celebration will be Dec. 2 at Skate Zone, 1261 E. Calvada Blvd.

Skating and laser tag will be 9-11 a.m. and the commencement exercises will be 11 to noon.