By JEFF KETTERING
News Correspondent
It was a staged scene but, for many, it felt all too real.
On Thursday and Friday, Feb. 12 and 13, Oakdale High School, in coordination with the California Highway Patrol, Oakdale Police, Modesto Fire, Stanislaus County Coroner, Oak Valley Hospital, Oakdale Joint Unified School District and other agencies put on the Every 15 minutes program outside of the high school. Every 15 minutes is a program designed to show students the real-life impacts of driving while impaired.
The first day is a realistic crash scene that depicts a DUI accident where student actors portray the accident victims. Oakdale High juniors and seniors are witness to emergency personnel responding to the crash, where one individual is pronounced dead at the scene. Two other accident victims are taken from the scene via ambulance to a nearby trauma center.
“The accident scene is difficult to watch for many as the students in the scene are well known by a large population of the school and the realism of the extrication tears at emotions,” Assistant Principal Shannon Kettering, who coordinates this program for Oakdale High School, explained.
At the end of the first day the individual driving is arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and actually taken to the Stanislaus County Jail to go through the booking procedures
Students involved in the program are housed in a local hotel overnight and are “dead” to the rest of the student body as well as not being able to contact their families. They are treated to an array of guest speakers showing the impact that DUI can have on lives.
One student, Emma Volonte, 18, said, “I learned more from this program in two days than I’ve learned about DUI’s in my four years of high school.”
OHS senior Ricky Torrez, who was the passenger in the car driven by the drunk driver added, “I didn’t think this would affect me, but when the scene was going on I couldn’t help but have an emotional reaction. This will definitely stay with me for a long time.”
The second day depicted a funeral scene in the OHS gymnasium and this was attended by the parents of all students chosen to be in the program. The emotions on that day were raw and obvious from the opening with Amazing Grace until the final words by the CHP officer in charge. Both parents and students read letters that they wrote to each other, many unable to contain their emotions after having gone through the experience.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving also supplied a guest speaker who told his story of losing his son in a DUI accident.
“This program has had a strong impact on students for years,” noted Kettering, “and I would hope that all organizations will continue to participate in the future to better the lives of our Oakdale High students.”
