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Simulated Crash Teaches Students the Importance of Choices
Reno, NV (April 6, 2011) - The harrowing scene of a staged car crash on Tuesday followed by a mock funeral service today left the campus' juniors and seniors in tears, helping them to think twice about drinking and driving. The school's two-day, student-organized Every 15 Minutes program made an emotional impact on the school for all involved, including the high school's 1,500 students, parents and staff.
Today, students attended a three-hour funeral service featuring caskets for two student actors playing victims of a car accident staged in front of the school. Also attending were the "living dead" teens, who wore black sweatshirts and moulage. The living dead were pulled out of their classrooms throughout the day on Tuesday every 15 minutes to drive home the point that drunken driving takes lives all too often.
Rowan Moser, a senior, played the student driver who caused the simulated accident and was sentenced to prison for causing two DUI-related deaths and the paralysis of another. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs at the funeral and accompanied by an officer.
"The biggest highlight was seeing how it impacted everybody," Rowan said, having been tried and convicted by a jury of his peers during a mock trial at a student retreat on Tuesday night, receiving both concurrent and consecutive sentences.
Principal Denise Hausauer said it was worth taking time out of instruction to convey this important message of making better choices.
"I just believe that the students will go out and make better decisions after making a little more time to think about those decisions first," Hausauer said. "If these kids can be safer, I'm going to have a student to educate every day. The safety of our kids is everything."
Various community members participated in the service at which videos, slideshows, poetry and music were used to emphasize the gravity of impaired driving. South Reno Baptist Church Pastor Joe Taylor offered a eulogy, sharing with students how he's buried 18 students who were lost to drunk driving. Northern Nevada DUI Task Force members Jim and Annie Holmes, whose college-bound son DJ Benardis
was killed by a drunk driver on Interstate 80 in Reno in 1996, shared the tragic accident and the consequences of getting behind the wheel after drinking with Damonte Ranch teens.
The students who planned the event said Every 15 Minutes opened their eyes to considering everyone around them on the road when driving. Raynee Kendall, who was amongst the living dead, said she was honored to be part of the experience. Raynee previously was in a car accident.
"When I first came out here it was like being in my accident all over again and it made my heart sink," she said. "People don't pay attention and they don't care about anyone but themselves when they're driving. I think this program changed me. With spring break coming up, I hope the students understand it's not just the people in the car accident; it's everybody on the road."
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About Washoe County School District: The
Washoe County School District includes the Reno/Sparks metropolitan
area, Incline Village, Gerlach, Empire and Wadsworth, Nevada. The
District provides each of its 63,000 students with a superior education
in a safe and challenging environment and is committed to graduate every
child career and college ready.
For more information visit: www.washoecountyschools.org. Follow us on Twitter at WCSDTweet.
Washoe County School District
425 East Ninth Street
Reno, NV 89520
