A festive atmosphere filled the Bowlus Fine Arts Center Wednesday with the annual fifth-grade Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) commencement ceremony. Above, K.C. Wolf takes a seat in front of student Briggs Michael as a special guest for the ceremony. Dan Mears, who has portrayed K.C. Wolf for the past 27 years, later spoke to the youngsters about the “ABC’s of Success,” by stressing a positive attitude, good behavior and strong character. Tony Leavitt, president of the USD 257 Board of Education, is at upper left. At lower left, Iola City Administrator Sid Fleming addresses the crowd about avoiding drugs to stay in control. At bottom right, fifth-graders, from left, Heidi Folk, Mac Leonard, Bryan Macias, Emily Atwell and Rebekah Coltrane dance to the Aretha Franklin standard “Respect.” While the ceremony is limited to fifth-graders, the D.A.R.E. program has been extended to include all elementary school levels, Officer Mike Ford of the Iola police Department said.
DARE TO BE DRUG-FREE
