Shattered Dreams

Today, we had our Shattered Dreams presentation/extravaganza at school. It truly was amazing. To see a real life simulation of how a drunk driving accident is handled was a great experience.

The students had no idea about the plans other than bits and pieces heard around the rumor mill.

A video set up the scene of students going home during lunch, drinking and then driving back to school. The drunk driver hit a car of students leaving the parking lot. The screen went black and a fire bell rang to get the entire school outside to witness the scene of the accident.

Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, and even care flight. We watched as they pulled the real students out of the cars on stretchers, in neck braces and in body bags.

I knew the entire plan. I knew what to expect. I knew it wasn't real. But I found myself having to hold back tears several times throughout the presentation, especially when real parents of the students and siblings were running around simulating what the family would do in a situation like that.

We heard eulogies from the parents of the 3 'dead' students, along with messages from themselves talking about how their lives were cut short and their dreams shattered.

I'm so glad schools are taking part in such a wonderful program trying to get the message across to be smart and make good choices. Even if it just affected only one student so much so that they made a change in their plans this Friday night, I would say it was worth it.

Every 15 minutes someone does from an alcohol related incident. Where will you be in 15 minutes?