RUMFORD – “If you only remember one thing from your DARE classes, remember that you have the power to control whatever you do,” longtime Drug Abuse Resistance Education instructor Douglas Maifeld told 95 River Valley area fifth-graders during Thursday’s graduation ceremony.

That message was driven home several times by guest speaker Doug Rafferty in the nearly packed Mountain Valley High School Muskie Auditorium. The DARE grads all wore light blue DARE T-shirts and sat in seats surrounded by parents, relatives and friends.

Rafferty, a WGME Channel 13 news anchor and former police officer, used National Football League and personal life anecdotes to drive home the importance of character.

“I can’t tell you enough about what it means for you to have character,” he said prior to listing six factors that establish character.

“Remember that what you do when no one is watching matters and that the means of what you do matters as much as the end result. Hang in there. Character is revealed by adversity. It is truth and being truthful. Don’t rationalize the fact that you’re being honest, and most importantly, never give up,” he said.

He also told them to rely on their parents as they continue their education.

“Your parents are very important. Don’t ever sell them short,” Rafferty said.

After quoting Shakespeare’s “‘To thine own self be true'” line from the first act of “Hamlet,” Rafferty then quoted Bible verse Romans 14:21 and explained what it meant.

“‘It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.’ This means that it is better to go hungry than to bring anyone else into the world of alcohol and drugs. That is character.

“Character matters. Character will always make you strong and not let you down, but it matters what you do with it,” Rafferty said.

Those words rang through several of the six winning essays read by the students who wrote them.

“Living in a violent world is like driving through life without brakes with nothing to listen to but the ugly sounds of emotional or physical pain,” said Claudia Gallant of Meroby Elementary School. “DARE has made me aware. I’m very aware of the good choices that are out there for me.”

Meroby student Tyla Thibodeau said, “DARE taught me that I have the power to say, ‘NO!’ I don’t want to drink alcohol because it can make me not think straight and do things I don’t want to do.”

“What I learned will help me make good choices in life about drugs, tobacco and violence so I don’t take the wrong road and make bad choices,” Meroby fifth-grader Alexandria Durland said.

Afterward, during the presentation of DARE program graduation certificates, Meroby fifth-grade teacher Greig Parr said Rafferty drove home an important point.

“I loved his speech,” Parr said. “That’s what these kids need to learn – character. I personally feel that character education is certainly an important ingredient in educating the entire student.”