A graduation was held on Feb. 24 at SeaTac's Chinook Middle School for 7th grade students completing the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program.

The G.R.E.A.T. middle school curriculum consists of thirteen 30- to 45-minute lessons designed to be taught in sequential order. In the lessons, the kids learn the connection between drugs, gangs, crimes, and violence.

The lessons are about learning to make good decisions, practicing saying no, goal setting, anger management, empathy for other, helping others calm down and effective communication to just name a few.

The goal for Chinook is to have all the new 7th graders go through the program during the first semester of each school year.

Students were selected from each class period and spoke about making better decisions in dealing with confrontations. The teachers also spoke about the positive behavior changes in their students and an appreciation of the material presented. Several students volunteered to be G.R.E.A.T. peer mentors and mediators next year.

There were approximately 250 7th grade Chinook students who attended this program.