Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Audio of tires screeching and awful metallic crunching sounds fill the air. Onlookers begin to shout and sirens blare as emergency vehicles with flashing lights arrive on the staged scene of a crashed Mustang. Jefferson Somerset students in ninth through twelfth grades have gathered around the crumpled car outside Pavilion 10 to see their classmates playing the roles of friends experiencing a tragic, drinking-related car crash on Prom Night. Jefferson County Fire Rescue personnel use the Jaws of Life to cut into the smashed Mustang and transport one student actor on a gurney toward the nearby ambulance. At the left edge of the tarp, one student, covered with a gray blanket, performs the role of a fatal crash victim.
The Operation Prom Night dramatization, presented by Tallahassee Memorial Health Care's Trauma Center, was hosted by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office just a few days before the school's actual prom night, as part of its Pathways to Prevention program. Student actors, all ninth graders in the JROTC program, included Tatiana Rivera, Brianna Wilson, Antonio Mathis, Samiah Washington, Desmond Whitfield and Willie Scurry. The program aims to warn students about the dangers of getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol.
Jefferson Somerset Principal Cory Oliver said, “This is a huge event for us to come together and make an impact where the kids see all of us. They see the Sheriff and Sheriff's Office, they see Chief Burrus and the fire station, and they know that we are all trying to do right by them... To have an event like this where kids can actually witness it without having to go through the real trauma I think is really powerful.”
After the reenactment, Trauma Program Manager Jo Roland of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital spoke to the students to emphasize the relevant message in the program.
“This was a reenactment, but it shows some of the realities of drinking and driving,” said Roland. “Motor vehicle crashes are the number one fatality for kids your age. This a preventable reality, and so we want you to leave here today and think a little bit about the ramifications of your choices. We don't want to make choices in life that limit our futures.”
Operation Prom Night sponsors included Air Methods Corporation, Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition, Jefferson County Fire & Rescue, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, McGuffey's Wrecker Service, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Somerset Academy.
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