In order to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of drinking and driving, SJHHS is steering the Every 15 Minutes program back onto campus this month after a three year break.

Every 15 Minutes is a two-day state-funded staging of a realistic and graphic mock car crash, emergency medical treatment, as well as a police booking scene.

The event gets its name from the assumption that approximately every fifteen minutes someone is either injured or killed in an alcohol-related car accident. Many of these victims are teenagers who, by stepping behind the wheel under the influence, shatter their own lives leaving loved ones to pick up the pieces.

On the first day, juniors and seniors will gather around a traumatic looking two-car collision involving six of their peers either killed on impact, gruesomely injured, or hysterically trying to cope with the loss of loved ones.

The storyline continues through a video presentation, following the survivors to their tragic ending in the emergency room or prison.

In addition to those directly involved in the mock DUI scene, a diverse cast of twenty six upperclassmen “die” during the school day. A figure dressed as the Grim Reaper claims selected students every fifteen minutes. An obituary written by their parents is read to the class. Those he claims will not be seen or heard from for the rest of the day, so friends and family actually feel the impact of their death.

The event closes with an emotionally charged assembly on the second day where guest speaker, Tonya Tozer–a paralyzed victim of a DUI accident–will share her story with the audience of juniors and seniors. The “deceased” are then reunited with family members to read their last words.

50 juniors and seniors were nominated by teachers to participate in this event and were narrowed down to the final count of 26 (plus one teacher who has yet to be revealed). This selective process seeks to find a range of personalities and social circles so that everyone in the audience can identify with at least one of the crash victims.

All of this is designed just to convince teenagers that drinking and driving is never worth endangering your own life or that of your friends: there is always a deadly cost.

The program is geared toward juniors and seniors who are more likely drivers than freshmen or sophomores. If the program were repeated every four years all students would eventually witness Every 15 Minutes before graduation.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Jordan Anderson (right), a passenger involved in the mock car crash on Monday, April 25, over-looks severely injured friend, Michelle Almanza (left), in horror and disbelief. The participants in the mock crash were clad in fake blood and distraught clothing to simulate a traumatic car accident.