A life skills and anti-bully class will be held at Rangeley Lakes Regional School starting in January. From left are Jon Lamarche, Paul Ellis, Sharon Connally and Heidi Deery.

Anti-bullying class for Rangeley

RANGELEY – Pro-Active Survival Skills (PASS), a life skills and anti-bully program for students in grades three through six, is being brought to Rangeley Lakes Regional School through the cooperation and support of the school, Rangeley Friends of the Arts and the Rangeley Rotary Club.

The eight-week course will be taught by Jon Lamarche of the Rangeley Region Physical Rehab and Wellness Pavilion. Weekly classroom sessions will begin in January. Students will learn through an experiential activity format how to understand their environment and to fit into it. Students will discover methods for goal achievement when stepping out of their comfort zone.

Topic will include “Sports Safety,” “Internet Safety,” “Anger and Self-Control,” “Mental Skills to Beat the Bully,” “Knowing Your Comfort Zone,” “How to Protect Your Comfort Zone,” “Verbal Safety and Communication” and “Street Safety.”

Lamarche lives in Rangeley with his wife, Gina, and two children, Calle and Kye. Lamarche is the fitness coordinator at the pavilion and co-owner of Grassroot Natural Foods. He enjoys spending time with his family and is an outdoor adventure enthusiast.

Lamarche grew up on a small farm in New Hampshire before moving to southern Maine with his family during high school. He graduated from Wells High School in 1997 and went on to live in Farmington where he attended college, graduating with a degree in psychology with a focus in exercise science and sport psychology in 2001.

Lamarche worked in behavioral health with special needs youth and disabled adults and began a personal training business, ECOHealth Fitness, and also opened one of Maine’s first grappling-based martial arts schools.

Shortly after he began running his fitness and martial arts business full time, he moved to Rangeley where he took over as fitness coordinator at the Rangeley Wellness Pavilion in January 2004. Since then he has been a part of the creation of many programs, including post rehab training, youth, adult and senior fitness.