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By Rachel McDaniel for the Pike Journal Reporter
PIKE COUNTY - Around 300 students learn about the dangers of drugs, bullying and unsafe internet use each year through the CHAMPS program sponsored by the Pike County sheriff’s office. Sheriff Jimmy Thomas was recently presented with a check for $250 to promote and enhance the local CHAMPS program by the Pike Community Resources Network.
“We see our partnership with the CHAMPS program as a way to meet our goals of equipping students with the ability to make wise life choices and become educated and aware of the world around them,” said CRN director Michael Powell. “That program is targeted for fifth grade students and that’s a very critical age where students are beginning to develop life skills and become aware of issues such as bullying, drug use and internet dangers.”
Resource officers from the sheriff’s office – deputies Liz Torres and Jeffrey Boyt – teach the course to all fifth grade students over a 12-week period with each class meeting once a week to learn about the negative effects of drug use, violence and bullying.
“We’re hoping to put more emphasis on the CHAMPS program so students and parents know we’re proactive in that area,” said Sheriff Thomas.
“I think Mike Powell and Charles Burden deserve some recognition. They’re pooling a lot of resources together in the community for the elderly, youth, people with addiction problems, juvenile drug abuse problems and domestic issues. They pull people together to help locally.”
Pike CRN also supports the CHAMPS program by providing interactive materials for students to teach them the dangers of drugs, including beer goggles, an enlarged cigarette showing the dangerous ingredients it contains, a mouth with stained teeth and cancer sores from dipping and a jar showing the amounts of tobacco and tar in one cigarette.
“He’s a great resource for us,” said Torres. “We show the students as many visual aids as we can to really get the point across.”
The CHAMPS program will start for all fifth graders in September and will cover 12 topics with pre- and post-testing to make sure students pay attention.
“We give them a workbook and let them know what CHAMPS stands for: Choosing Healthy Activities and Methods Promoting Safety,” said Torres. “We talk about issues related to them, bullying, how to make correct choices and the positive and negative consequences of that, internet safety, how to be home alone, peer pressure, the harmful affects of tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine use and violence and how to react in non-violent ways. With each topic we interact with them and let them get up and take part. They need to be informed. Sometimes parents try to shield them too much. That can be bad when they’re confronted with different things.”
Each class will spend one day a week with the resource officers during the 12-week course. Each student receives a certificate of completion at the end. They are rewarded for listening well and answering and asking questions by getting to hold the CHAMPS puppy. At the end of the program, one student is chosen at random to adopt the stuffed animal. The program was founded in 2003 by the Georgia Sheriff's Association.
“They respect the position of the sheriff’s deputies and they’re not so afraid of officers after the class,” said Torres. “I tell them I just want them to be safe. Through the CHAMPS program, we help them build a trust in law enforcement officers. A lot of parents have commented how much their students enjoy the CHAMPS class.”