Even with the glittering tiara and "Miss Nevada" sash, Caydi Cole fit right in with the fifth-graders at Minden Elementary School.
Cole was in Northern Nevada to address the most recent crop of Douglas County Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduates.
She recalled her own DARE class as a student in Las Vegas.
"I don't feel that it was that long ago. I won the DARE essay contest," said the 21-year-old Las Vegas native.
She told the students that DARE didn't only mean "just say no" to drugs, but offered tips for kids to deal with peer pressure to use drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
"Those are tools you apply every day," she said.
One of the tools, Cole reminded the students, is to develop interests.
For her, it was music.
"I love to sing," Cole said. "I was in all the high school shows."
She told the story of how she was invited to sing on stage with Shania Twain when Cole was an eighth grader.
Cole also sang to the DARE students at their graduation, demonstrating how her vocal talent helped propel her to victory in the Miss Nevada pageant.
She explained to the fifth graders that her platform as Miss Nevada was civic education.
She extracted "pinky promises" from two girls that they would vote when they were old enough.
Luke Leonard, 9, said he enjoyed the DARE classes because he learned how to deal with peer pressure.
"If I didn't have DARE, I would not know how to deal with some of this," he said. "I liked it."
Douglas County Sheriff's Office Youth Services Officer Teresa Duffy said DARE is a program to help children develop "entry level" skills to stay drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free and to handle peer pressure.
Duffy said 90 students graduated at Minden Elementary and nearly 100 fifth-graders at Meneley Elementary during ceremonies this week.
When the students reach seventh grade, the skills are reinforced through the Gang Resistance Education and Training program, Duffy said.
"I thought the DARE classes were fun," said Kyle Barnes, 10. "We got to try on the alcohol glasses and do a lot of fun things."
Jackie Johnson, 10, said she'd heard the classes were boring, but discovered that was untrue.
"When they started, I found out there were more fun than I thought they would be," she said.
Katelin Teigen, 10, said she liked the DARE box, where students' questions were answered.
"I liked hearing the answers," she said.
Duffy said the DARE box is an opportunity for kids to confidentially bring up subjects.
"We tell them they might not be able to change an adult's behavior, but information is key. Knowledge is power," she said.
Cole said she was grateful as Miss Nevada for the opportunity to travel the state and be a representative for the Miss America Pageant to be held in Las Vegas in January.
She was staying in Gardnerville with a former Miss Nevada, Christina O'Neil Bourne, and said she would be returning to the north in December and would be happy to address groups or visit schools.
"I'm having an amazing time," she said.
CONTACT MISS NEVADA
Miss Nevada Caydi Cole can be reached through the Miss America Pageant organization.
Web site: www.missnevada.org
