The Grim Reaper Visited My Classroom Today . . .

[indianasmith]

Death stalked the halls and streets of Greenville today. Young students were taken from the classroom by the Grim Reaper, and a violent drunk driving accident claimed several lives and ruined others in the GHS parking lot. All morning, every fifteen minutes, a heartbeat sounded over the intercom, then flatlined, and the black, shrouded figure came to claim another student. This afternoon the entire high school population of our local public and private schools were taken to witness the horrible after effects of a drunk driving accident. Some of their friends and classmates lay dead or maimed around the twisted wreckage of three automobiles.   Shattered Dreams, a quadrennial program to help stop drunk driving among teens, uses these grisly re-enactments to remind young people of the horrible cost of drinking and driving - not just on those who do it, but on those unfortunates who cross their paths. It was a sobering day in more ways than one. As someone who lost a good friend to a drunk driver years ago, all I can say is that I hope it works.

[Leah]

Grim Reaper at School?
Heart stopping on the intercom?

[Trevor]

Death stalked the halls and streets of Greenville today. Young students were taken from the classroom by the Grim Reaper, and a violent drunk driving accident claimed several lives and ruined others in the GHS parking lot. All morning, every fifteen minutes, a heartbeat sounded over the intercom, then flatlined, and the black, shrouded figure came to claim another student. This afternoon the entire high school population of our local public and private schools were taken to witness the horrible after effects of a drunk driving accident. Some of their friends and classmates lay dead or maimed around the twisted wreckage of three automobiles.   Shattered Dreams, a quadrennial program to help stop drunk driving among teens, uses these grisly re-enactments to remind young people of the horrible cost of drinking and driving - not just on those who do it, but on those unfortunates who cross their paths. It was a sobering day in more ways than one. As someone who lost a good friend to a drunk driver years ago, all I can say is that I hope it works.

I'm glad it was a drill and nothing more: that third pic from the top is very disturbing indeed.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Wow.... Just Wow

[indianasmith]

Today was tough, too.
We left school at 9:35 and went to a memorial service for the three students who were "killed" in the accident yesterday.
(ALL the kids who take part, both those in the staged accident and those who are taken by the Reaper, are kept away from their families overnight at a retreat run by the SD sponsors.  Each parent has to write an obituary for their child, and each student writes a "letter from heaven" to their family.)
At the service, a local minister who lost his mom in a drunk driving accident told his story, then one of the "dead" students read the letter she wrote to her mom.  Then the mother of the young girl being pulled from the car in my picture read the tribute she wrote to her daughter.  After the memorial service ended, all the "dead" students were reunited with their families - it was a very powerful moment; I'm not ashamed to admit I was bawling . . . but I was not the only one!!!

Here is a link to the full album on FaceBook:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.265173666982624.1073741831.211488472351144&type=1