(New Britain, CT)--New Britain High School (NBHS) students from the Fire Fighting class are providing the school with a unique look at the effects drinking and driving can cause after a night at the prom. The students from the class wrote a script to mimic a mock crash and acted it out last week in front of 500 seniors demonstrating the impact of drinking and driving. The New Britain fire department, police department and LIFE STAR were all part of the project, showing the community of New Britain are in support of teaching students about the effects of drinking and driving.

 

“It’s the students’ vision; they are the ones who came up with the script and determined what to tell the audience and their peers,” said NBHS Social Studies Teacher and Fire Fighter Advisor Kevin Williams. He said everyone in the class participated in the creation of the script and will also be a part of the demonstration. NBHS has been doing this for the past three years, “It shows the students who are attending the prom that their actions have long-lasting consequences not only to themselves but to others,” said Williams. The class, which meets daily, is a way to teach students about what it means to be a firefighter, as well as includes offering some tasks that one might have to face as a fire fighter. Lieutenant Ken Rectur of Ladder 2 in New Britain said, “Myself and others from the New Britain fire department come by once a week to talk with the students and give them real life experiences about being a fire fighter.”

 

 “The goal of this event is to hopefully open the eyes of the students going to the prom, making them think before they decide to drink and drive,” said Rectur.NBHS Junior Jessica Dudzinoska said, “It will hopefully be in the back of the students’ minds of what could happen if they decide to drink and drive after the prom.” There was a lot of planning that needed to go into the project said Dudzinoska, “PowerPoint’s needed to be created, and letters to the local EMS, police department, fire department and LIFE STAR.” With a taste of reality television, this mock trial tells of a young family who just had a baby and is hit by a couple of high school students drinking and driving. Among the students, only the driver makes it through the crash alive. “We wanted to make it impact a lot of the students, which is why we decided to include a young family with a baby,” Junior Lembel Correa said.

 

“Kids do not really understand what could happen if they decided to drink and drive, we hope that the demonstration can show them exactly what could happen, as well as teach the health academy students,” said Rectur.

 

School Resource Officer (SRO) John Gonzalez said, “It’s real, young adults drinking and driving causing deaths.” His advice for parents is to sit down and talk to your child about the impact of drinking and driving on them and others. “Parents should be a taxi if necessary, if a student needs a ride they can call me, I would rather see them get home safe,” said Gonzalez. With a first offense of probation for a year and possible drivers license suspensions and fines and depending on your record, you can do a lot of time according to Gonzalez.

 

Hartford Hospital LIFE STAR, a critical care helicopter service which responds to and provides air transport for variety of patients, sent a helicopter to the demonstration. EMTs were on the scene of the mock car crash and will provide first-hand training for New Britain Academy for Health Professions (NBAHP) students. This serves to provide real life experiences they may face while on the job. As the first year of the Health Academy nears the end, students will have heard from more than thirty guest speakers about critical job categories and occupations identified as currently in greatest demand, those that will meet anticipated future needs and those that are difficult to fill when openings occur. Speakers were also selected based on students’ interest, and thus LIFE STAR, the “ultimate guest speaker” was asked to come and “speak” to the students, says Maria Pietrantuono, healthcare consultant to the Health Academy. When contacted, staff from LIFE STAR was more than willing to participate in an event that clearly serves the youth of our community in so many ways, including education and making safe choices on prom night, she adds.

 

“The program has been quite successful in the past years that we have been doing it,” said Williams. “The students keep coming up with scripts that keep the audience wondering what will happen next.” With continued support from the local fire and police departments, it truly shows the importance of teaching students about drinking and driving and the effects it causes. Principle Michael Foran said, “It is important that our students recognize the importance of enjoying great events like the prom safely, seeing this demonstration and hearing from their peers makes this a very powerful way to get this message out to our students.”

 

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