(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Optimist Club hosted an assembly for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students Monday afternoon at the Le Mars Community Middle School Auditorium. Both Le Mars Community and Gehlen Catholic students participated in the program. The purpose for the assembly is to encourage students to “Just say No” to drugs and alcohol. Mike White, a martial arts instructor was the featured speaker during the program. He tells of his message to the students.
He told the students that he used to be bullied at school, but he found martial arts gave him confidence and self-esteem.
Five years ago, White was the speaker at that time for the same program. He compares the students from his first speaking appearance to yesterday’s students.
White demonstrated various martial arts techniques for the wide-eyed students.
Sophie Pauling is a fifth grader at Kluckholn school and was the winner of the t-shirt contest for the assembly. Pauling says she got her inspiration for the t-shirt through a class subject she was studying.
The Optimist Club distributed t-shirts with the winning design and slogan to
each student.
