Chester students graduate from EMPOWER

More Lake County students graduated last week, empowered with the knowledge of how to make good decisions and be good citizens.  Thirty-five 6th grade students in Chester graduated from the EMPOWER program, which is presented by Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Rowe.  Rowe serves as the School Resource Officer for Lake County schools and presents the drug awareness program to students for nine weeks, leading up to a graduation ceremony.   The program also includes visits to the class from the county’s Drug Recognition Expert Deputy Micah Hofman, and K-9 Deputy Grant Lanning and dog Rocco.   

Rowe had his father, Dave Rowe, who is a retired Sioux Falls Police Department DARE instructor and retired Air Force member, talk with the students, as well as TV News Anchor Don Jorgenson, during last Thursday’s graduation ceremony.