COMMUNITY BENEFIT
EVERY 15 MINUTES
A DRAMATIZATION LEADS TO SOBERING REALIZATIONS FOR NORTH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
WRITTEN BY KRISTIN REYNOLDS
The day was just getting started at North High School in Torrance. As unsuspecting students settled in, routine morning announcements gave way to this chilling statistic cited over the intercom by a peer: “Every 15 minutes, someone in the United States dies due to an alcohol-related collision. Today you may experience the effects of these deaths.” Soon after, a campus security officer dressed as the Grim Reaper appeared and, for the remainder of the day, summoned one student every 15 minutes from his or her desk. Just like that, they were gone. “Every 15 Minutes,” a program funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was carried out in dramatic, eye-opening and often gruesome detail over two days in April at the school. The program challenges juniors and seniors
to think about how being distracted while driving—either from drinking, texting or otherwise—can deeply impact them, their family and their friends. Though “Every 15 Minutes” is a mock activity, its effects are real and long-lasting. As the program at North unfolded, other sobering scenes were enacted. A Torrance police officer read each dead student’s obituary to their classmates. Tombstones were placed in the quad one by one. Officers visited parents (prepped in advance by school officials), delivering the crushing news: “I’m sorry to inform you that today your child was killed by a drunk driver.” A mock 911 call later played over the intercom, notifying the student body—almost 2,100 teenagers—that a car accident had just occurred outside. Teachers dismissed classes to the scene. Although the setup was just that, a real team of local emergency respond-
ers quickly arrived, just as they would in real life: Torrance police officers, firefighters, ambulances. A Hawthorne police helicopter circled as the Jaws of Life cut student actors, bloodied and scared, from mangled cars. Some of the eight students involved pretended to be injured; some pretended to be dead. The student playing the part of the drunk driver was given a sobriety test, taken to jail, fingerprinted and locked in a cell. The “deceased” were covered and taken to the morgue, where their parents had to identify them. The “critically injured” were taken by ambulance to Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s simulated emergency room, physicians and nurses standing by. Still, some of those did not “survive.” Perhaps the most emotionally draining activity was the memorial service that took place in front of the student body on the second day; the previous day’s “deceased” students and their parents took turns sharing letters they had written to one another expressing their sorrow at the losses. You could hear a pin drop; it was tough to find a dry eye. Many students said they couldn’t wait to get home and hug their parents. To see “Every 15 Minutes” play out is a harrowing experience, but that’s the goal. Senior Brandon Yee serves on the board of directors for Human Relations Ambassadors (HRA), a chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and was in charge of the classroom student “deaths,” mock death notifications and the graveyard area. He said students respond to up-closeand-personal lessons more than simply hearing the statistics.
10 | PULSE
SUMMER 2013