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National Guard Lands Black Hawk Helicopter at Pleasant Valley Middle School
From our Kansas National Guard Implementers and Lori Yount with The Wichita Eagle:
Pleasant Valley Middle School students watched their soccer field turn into a landing pad for a Black Hawk helicopter Tuesday morning as district officials kicked off their newest substance abuse/life skills program.
Leadership cadets at Pleasant Valley participated last year in the state’s pilot program Stay on Track, taught by Kansas National Guard soldiers. This year the program is expanding into Leadership programs, a type of Junior ROTC for middle school students.
Program leaders expect to introduce Stay on Track in eleven (11) other Wichita schools, said Col. Robert Hester, who heads the district’s Junior ROTC and Leadership programs.
The Black Hawk, which carried school officials to Pleasant Valley, flew in from Salina, and Hester said Leadership cadets at other schools were bussed to the school for the program launch.
Lt Col Steve Ferrell, who coordinates the Guards’ Counterdrug Program in Kansas, said the National Guard chose Stay on Track because research has shown it is more effective than other programs in teaching students about the effects of illegal drug use and how to make good decisions.
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