Long, But Successful Day, Part One.

Hey, everyone -

Our "Keep Your Summer Drive Alive" project yesterday was a big success. It was a long day for everyone involved, but well worth it in the end. Here is a recap of what went on:

In-school component:

The day began with a Grim Reaper Day project. We pre-selected 12 students, 3 from each of the 4 high school grades, to be "victims" pulled out of class roughly every half hour, to illustrate the fact that someone is killed in an alcohol-related crash about every 32 minutes. We didn't want to concentrate just on impaired driving, though, so we wrote scenarios for each of the crashes. Some of the crashes involved alcohol, but other ones were cases of distracted driving, falling asleep at the wheel, deaths that could have been avoided by wearing a seat belt, and others.

One of our team members, Brandon, wore a Grim Reaper outfit and was accompanied by a Hillsboro police officer, Officer Aventi, who read the crash scenario for the rest of the class. After the "victim" was taken from class, he or she was brought to the Board Room, where the officer showed some photos of crashes in the area and told the stories behind the crashes. Officer Aventi took time to explain some of the common reasons why young people get into crashes and that the summer months were the most dangerous for kids.

After this, the students were given the choice of filming a "goodbye video" for their family and friends.

The day ended with an assembly, where the victims were re-introduced and the scenarios read for the entire student body. Highway Patrol Officer Kyle Stern then addressed the students about some of the things he has seen and had to deal with in his line of work.

The in-school part of the project will actually conclude on Friday, May 8, when team members will lead a discussion on the video and lesson called "tk cr b4 2 l8". The video includes testimonies from young people who have survived a crash by wearing a seat belt, and also a very touching story from two girls who were survivors of a tragic crash that claimed the life of a younger boy from their school.