Every 15 Minutes

This past Monday, Central Catholic High School put on the "Every 15 Minutes" program.

I took the afternoon off from work so that I could attend. It was a very moving experience. I'm so glad that there are programs like this. I took some pictures but the biggest impact was seeing the "victims" parents watch as their children were either put into an ambulance and actually rushed to the hospital, or put in a body bag and taken to the morgue. The student who was "driving drunk" was given a sobriety test and then handcuffed and put in the police car. The Grim Reaper slinks around with his scythe. The students were right there in front of the whole thing and could hear the screams of their classmates who had to removed from the vehicle with the jaws of life. POWERFUL!!! The next day there was an assembly where they got to see the entire day on the big screen. All involved did an excellent job.

Here's some information about the program from their website - http://www.every15minutes.com/enter/.

Life's lessons are best learned through experience. Unfortunately, when the target audience is teens and the topic is drinking and texting while driving, experience is not the teacher of choice.

The Every 15 Minutes Program offers real-life experience without the real-life risks. This emotionally charged program, entitled Every 15 Minutes, is an event designed to dramatically instill teenagers with the potentially dangerous consequences of drinking alcohol and texting while driving. This powerful program will challenge students to think about drinking, texting while driving, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are involved.


During the first day events the "Grim Reaper" calls students who have been selected from a cross-section of the entire student body out of class. One student is removed from class every 15 minutes. A police officer will immediately enter the classroom to read an obituary which has been written by the "dead" student's parent(s) - explaining the circumstances of their classmate's demise and the contributions the student has made to the school and the community. A few minutes later, the student will return to class as the "living dead," complete with white face make-up, a coroner's tag, and a black Every 15 Minutes T-shirt. From that point on "victims" will not speak or interact with other students for the remainder of the school day. Simultaneously, uniformed officers will make mock death notifications to the parents of these children at their home, place of employment or business.

After lunch, a simulated traffic collision will be viewable on the school grounds. Rescue workers will treat injured student participants. These students will experience first hand, the sensations of being involved in a tragic, alcohol-related and texting while driving collision. The coroner will handle fatalities on the scene, while the injured students will be extricated by the jaws-of-life manned by Fire-Fighters and Paramedics. Police Officers will investigate, arrest, and book the student "drunk driver". Student participants will continue their experience by an actual trip to the morgue, the hospital emergency room, and to the police department jail for the purpose of being booked for "drunk driving".

At the end of the day, those students who participated in the staged accident as well as those who were made-up as the "living dead" will be transported to a local hotel for an overnight student retreat. The retreat will simulate the separation from friends and family. A support staff of counselors and police officers will facilitate the retreat.

During the most powerful program of the retreat, the students will be taken through an audio - visualization of their own death. Then each student will write a letter to his or her parents starting out with . . .

"Dear Mom and Dad, every fifteen minutes someone in the United States dies from an alcohol related traffic collision, and today I died. I never had the chance to tell you......."

Parents will also be asked to write similar letters to their children. These letters will be shared the following day when students and parents will be reunited at a school assembly.