Recent graduates of E.A.G.L.E., which last year replaced D.A.R.E. in county elementary schools, called the new program better and more comprehensive than its predecessor.

Instead of just focusing on drugs and alcohol like D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), E.A.G.L.E. (Educational Activities Generating Learning Excellence) is designed to tackle a broad range of issues and accommodate student questions and concerns.

“There’s nothing wrong with the D.A.R.E. program, but it was very restrictive about what you could teach,” Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley said.

School resource officers and deputies teaching D.A.R.E. wanted to be able to go broader and joined with sheriff’s office training officers to design the E.A.G.L.E. curriculum, which includes classes on drugs, alcohol, and Internet safety.

On Wednesday morning, fifth-graders at Temple Elementary School celebrated passing the E.A.G.L.E. classes with a graduation ceremony.

“Boys and girls, they are giving you the tools to be productive citizens,” Principal Dr. Terie Smith-Phillips said.

The students graduating from E.A.G.L.E. have also participated in D.A.R.E. and saw a difference in this year’s classes.

“It was better than D.A.R.E.,” Destiny Carver said.

Aja Wing said officers teaching E.A.G.L.E. explained more things to them and taught them about the consequences of breaking the law.

“Even if it had nothing to do with the lesson,” Carver added.

Wing said she learned a lot about what drugs, alcohol and tobacco can do to a person.

“I learned that secondhand smoke is more dangerous to you than to the person smoking,” she said.

Anthony Hammerstone said he learned the most during the Internet safety lesson.

“I learned not to go to certain sites,” he said. “If you see anything bad on the screen, go straight to your parents so they can take care of it.”

Getting to talk with deputies about their lives and the choices they made as young people was also a part of E.A.G.L.E. that Hammerstone said he enjoyed.

Along with helping students stay safe, Langley said another goal of E.A.G.L.E. is to get kids interacting with the police in a good way.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to see a positive law enforcement role model,” he said.

The sheriff’s office pays for the T-shirts given to E.A.G.L.E. graduates with seized drug money. The school system reimburses the sheriff’s office for part of a deputy’s $27,265 salary and prints the workbooks students use. Lt. Jeff Richards said because all the materials used for E.A.G.L.E. were generated by the sheriff’s office, money has been saved. D.A.R.E. shirts, he said, could only be bought through licensed vendors.

“We spend about $4 per shirt,” Richards said. “We bid it out to local vendors.”

This year, the sheriff’s office spent around $2,000 on T-shirts, which covers all of the students participating in E.A.G.L.E.

Because the program is only in its second year, Langley said he’ll have to wait to get statistics on how effective it has been. In the meantime, the E.A.G.L.E. curriculum can keep changing with the community’s needs.

“We’re looking to enhance it as we go along,” he said.