PHOTO: The largest D.A.R.E. graduation to date in DeKalb County. (Facebook | Thomas Underwood)

By Zach Hester, Reporter

RAINSVILLE, Ala. — On May 16th, D.A.R.E. celebrated their largest graduation to date with 700 kids across all of DeKalb County's schools graduating from the program.

For those who do not know, D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It's a nationally acclaimed program that focuses on providing children with the skills they need to avoid future involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence.

According to dare.org, "D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives."

In addition to the graduation ceremony that was held at the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum, the kids also took part in an essay and poster contest.

Congratulations to ALL 700 of these kids for graduating this great program from all of us at The Southern Torch!