Over two days, from April 23 to 24, Southern Lehigh High School students participated in a series of assemblies entitled “Every 15 Minutes” to better understand the consequences of drunk and distracted driving. The programs included a car crash simulation, a retreat for select students, and a reflection assembly including a mock funeral.

The program began on the morning of April 23, when a man dressed as the Grim Reaper walked into several classrooms and called out a student’s name. After the student followed the Grim Reaper out of the classroom, he or she was replaced by a police officer who read the student’s obituary. The students then returned to their classrooms wearing black t-shirts and white face paint, and they were instructed not to talk to or interact with anyone during the day.

In the afternoon, staff and students made their way to the bus lot for the next stage of the program. Two buses were moved to reveal a car accident. Moments later, police vehicles and ambulances were scattered throughout the high school bus lot and went through all the same motions they would at an actual accident scene. Some parents who previously gave permission for their students to participate in the program, were called and told to report either to the Lehigh Valley Hospital, or to the scene of the accident itself.

“I thought it was going to be emotional, but it was a lot more powerful than what I expected,” senior Cooper Nagle said.

Nagle, along with about thirty others, was one of the students who had been pulled from the classroom. After the school day, students were taken to the courthouse where senior Matt Long, who acted as the drunk driver of the mock accident, was “sentenced” to prison. That evening, students were taken to a retreat where they experienced presentations regarding distracted driving.

“We had three speakers,” junior Naomi Li said. “One of them spoke to us personally by talking about his best friend who had died. One offered statistics about the harmful effects [of drunk driving]. And the last one was the district attorney who harshly delivered the unequivocal truth about the legal implications of unintelligent decisions.”

On the morning of April 24, all high school students were brought to the gym where a mock funeral was held for the two students that had “died” in the car accident the night before. After watching a video of the accident, the impact really seemed to be getting to the students.

Following the memorial service, attention shifted to students and parents who offered their reflections upon the experience of participating in Every 15 Minutes program. At the retreat, students who were pulled from the classrooms were asked to write a letter to their parents, beginning with “Dear Mom and Dad, Every 15 minutes someone is killed as a result of drunk or distracted driving.  Today I died…”  Several students shared these heartfelt letters to friends and family.

During the parent reflections, it became apparent that the participating families did not know the specific roles their children were playing in the program. Even though they knew it was fake, the  parents still dealt with the shock of hearing that their child had been arrested, injured, or killed.  They said the emotions were very real.

Wrapping up the Friday morning assembly, Mrs. Barbara Reboratti of Quakertown, spoke about her daughter, Allison, who was killed at the age of 19 in a drunk driving accident. She spoke about how Allison lived her life alcohol free but the reckless decisions of others cost her her life, and she expressed the pain that she continues to carry. This presentation seemed to impact students the most, as they realized that an individual’s actions affect many others besides themselves.

The planning and coordination for the assembly all started in October, taking about six months to make ends meet. Ms. Merrilyn Psycher, high school nurse, was the coordinator of the Every 15 Minutes assembly, while Officer Brian McLaughlin, the school resource officer, was the Every 15 Minutes facilitator. They put lot of work into the program, which it took a lot of communication and cooperation among all of the local agencies involved, including local emergency response agencies.

“I just hope they [the students] take away the fact that decisions they make affect lots of other people besides themselves,” Ms. Pysher said. “They should think about people that they care about and love and people that they don’t want to hurt.”