Every 15 Minutes

Hello Monday!

Oh how quickly you show up after Friday.

I don’t know about you, but yesterday when I heard about the death of Nancy Reagan I was so sad. What a beautiful, classy lady. A true example of grace and style. A love story for the ages. And a shining example of a First Lady. 

She will be missed.

I really want to move on to happier thoughts, but first I want to share a program and experience Katie had at school last week. 

Every 4 years the school district brings in a program called “Every 15 Minutes”.

It’s an extremely vivid, real example of what can happen, and all too often does happen when drinking and driving are mixed. (I asked Katie if they also talked about texting and unfortunately they really didn’t. She said teens all agree texting and driving has become a bigger issue than drinking and driving.)

The Every 15 Minutes program goes to great lengths to make it as real a possible for these kids. They bring in 2 mangled cars, choose members of the student body who are largely known by most to participate and then go through 2 days of living out what is a nightmare for many. 

Here’s a brief synopsis of what takes place (as recounted to me by Katie)

The entire student body is taken out to the football field for an assembly not really knowing what they are about to see and become a part of.

There are 2 wrecked and mangled cars on the field with bodies both in the cars and on or around where they were “ejected during impact”. The participants are made up (very dramatically) to look like the victims would. This is a picture of one of the girls after she’s been made to look like a victim. She’s a beautiful girl, probably known by every student. She is a leader and is extremely active and involved in school activities.

This is what the students saw at the “scene”.

It’s very graphic and real for those witnessing it. The lengths gone to to make this real are extreme. The families of the participants come and go through the emotional upheaval with the student body. When Katie came home from the first day she was emotionally exhausted and depressed. As she recounted the activities of the day and assembly to me, my eyes welled up with tears and I had to hold back an all out bawl thinking about what those parents must have felt watching this (even knowing it wasn’t their reality, but is for some parents)

They make it real for everyone. They bring in the police, fire, EMS and even a helicopter lands on the field to medevac a victim out. The police go to the homes of the students who “didn’t survive” the accident to notify the family.  This is seriously a real life drama for the school for 2 days. 

The students who participated in the accident scene are taken to a hotel until the next day and their cell phones are taken away so no one can contact them.  This really brings it home for the kids and the families.  The parents are even taken to a funeral home where their child’s body is in a casket ready for burial. 

Day 2…

The student body is brought together again in another assembly resembling a funeral. Katie was dreading going back to school for another day of sadness. I shared with her that I had already lived this at her age for real. When I was in high school 3 students were in a car accident involving alcohol and 2 of the boys were killed. My mom had to sleep with me for nights after because I was so upset. So many of us “kids” attended 2 funerals of our friends with standing room only overflowing into the halls and foyers in one day. It’s something no one wants to go through.

This is the tweet I read by her

Naturally it makes me sad to watch her go through the emotions of this but  I told her I’m really happy they do this program. It’s seems like a really effective teaching tool. 

Now for a good laugh…

We picked up Kent’s new glasses this weekend and you should see the case they came in. 

#areyoukiddingme

#notverymasculine

This was a very routine weekend for us, so not much to report. 

#sorry

#maybenextweekendwillbemoreexciting

Hope your week is off to a great start!!!

Lisa

XOXOXO