KELSEYVILLE ? Laughter, cheering and clapping is heard as students in the Kelseyville High School gymnasium watch a video depicting their friends and themselves during a Wednesday assembly.
Then a bloody, fatal crash interrupts the levity. Silence reigns while the DUI accident that was staged Tuesday at noon is replayed on the screen. News reporters announce the unfolding tragedy, sirens warble, medical professionals pronounce death and parents shed real tears on screen. A casket and flowers sit at the front of the room.
“We are shell-shocked. I wasn”t prepared for this much emotion. I cried my eyes out both days,” parent Ray Vargas said.
Ray Vargas and his wife, Rhonda, knew in advance that their daughter, Brianna, was going to be a “walking-wounded” driver in the simulated head-on collision.
The assembly was the final step in the “Every 15 Minutes” program, designed to educate teens about the frequency of deaths that result from drunk driving. A team of law enforcement and rescue agencies, and volunteers simulated the crash, the resulting “deaths” of two students and everything that would follow in a real scenario.
“Even though you know it”s fake, it”s a nightmare,” Rhonda Vargas said.
The video showed the mock arrest of a student for DUI, his booking and incarceration. It showed medical professionals pronouncing the students “dead,” and the announcements to their parents. It showed the memorial services and interviews with teachers who knew the students involved.
Deanna Goff, whose daughter was one of the students who “died” in the mock accident, cried as she read to the assembled students a good-bye letter she had written to her daughter as part of the exercise.
“You never realize how much you miss someone, or how much you really love them until they are no longer with you. I wish I could have seen you graduate … now those chances are gone, and all I have are memories,” Goff read.
St. Helena-Clearlake Hospital nurse Jennifer Preusser is quoted in the video saying statistics show two out of every 10 drivers in Lake County are likely under the influence of alcohol.
There were 21 students involved in the event, including 16 who “died” Tuesday when the grim reaper visited classrooms at approximately 15-minute intervals. The students spent a night away from their parents and were reunited during the assembly.
“It was emotional ? it was hard. You know it”s staged, you know they”re all OK, but it”s still hard,” parent Kathleen Ahart said.
Ahart didn”t have a child who was involved, but said the event stirred memories of losing friends to alcohol-related accidents when she was in high school. She said it reinforced her resolve to drive home the importance of making responsible choices about alcohol.
“We”re the ones that are going to pound it into their heads ? don”t drink and drive. Don”t get into the car with somebody that”s drinking and driving,” Ray Vargas said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
