Coatesville, PA - Shana Bivins, Liz Golden and Nicole Brugger have a message for their peers at the Center for Arts & Technology Brandywine Campus: Don’t Drink and Drive. It’s not a new message, but for these three students it’s a message worth repeating – again and again and again. It’s so important that they have organized a weeklong series of events at their school in hopes that their message will save lives.
“This is personally important to me,” said Golden. “I myself have lost friends and family to drunk driving. I feel really strongly that it’s something (driving drunk) that people should not do.”
Fellow student and co-event organizer NicoleBrugger agreed.
“I became involved because I feel there are too many teens that have had their lives ended because of drinking and driving,” said Brugger. “As a result of these activities, I hope that my classmates learn that they shouldn’t drink and drive.”
The first, and most dramatic, event will be held on Monday, February 12 in which students will witness a mock car crash.
“The entire county is involved in this drill beginning with the 911 dispatch all the way to the SKYCARE helicopter,” said school principal Richard Saylor. “This is a big undertaking. Liz, Shana and Nicole are to be commended for doing an incredible job of planning these events.”
According to Golden, the program will begin with a loud crash sound and school officials will call 911. Two crashed cars will then be exposed in the school parking lot. One car will be filled with students coming from a party. A live rescue demonstration will take place with the assistance of local fire, ambulance, police and rescue units. Countywide agencies lending a hand in the mock crash include: The Chester County Highway Safety Project, Washington Hose Company, Caln Police, Coatesville Police Department, City of Coatesville, Thorndale Fire Company, Sanner Auto Wreckers and the American Red Cross.
When asked about the planning process, Golden joked: “It seems like I’ve been working on it for a million years. Just kidding, more like three or four months.”
From the size and scope of the activities taking place during the week of February 12-15, it’s no wonder it feels like a millennium to Golden and her co-planners. Other activities planned that week by Bivins, Brugger and Golden, include:
- Ghost out, February 13: Students will be randomly selected throughout the day to represent drunk driving fatalities and injuries. It is estimated that in the United States that someone is killed or injured in a drunk driving accident every 15 minutes. Students will return to class silent with their faces painted white and wearing a black armband. They will not speak for the remainder of the day as they are suppose to be dead.
- The wake, February 14: A coffin will be on display in the school cafeteria for all lunch periods. Horticulture students will supply the funeral flowers and health occupations students will supply the corpse (a medical dummy). When students look in the coffin at the corpse, they will see their face reflected back as the dummy’s face has been replaced with a mirror.
- Wall of friends, February 15: Students will put their handprint on a large poster to signify those who have lost someone due to drunk driving.
Bivins, Brugger and Golden are all 11th graders enrolled in the Early Childhood Care and Education program at the Center for Arts & Technology Brandywine Campus. Bivins and Brugger are from the Twin Valley School District, and Golden is from the West Chester Area School District. The Center for Arts & Technology Brandywine Campus is a public high school specializing in career and technical educational programs. Students attending CAT Brandywine receive instruction in career and technical programs in half-day programs at the school, and receive their academic instruction at their home high schools.
