.: Every 15 Minutes

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Every 15 Minutes

West Ranch High School participated in the Every 15 minutes program today. We were honored that Wes was asked to be a "victim." 26 students were chosen to either be in a mock drunk driver car accident or to be pulled from class by the grim reaper in representation of DUI deaths amongst teenagers. Two sheriffs knocked on our door around 9:45 this morning to present a death notification to us. I was fully prepared, knowing this would happen, but at the time my heart was still racing, my hands went ice cold and I was trembling. I listened to the words, "Your son was involved in a car accident this morning caused by a drunk driver and he did not survive, is there anything we can do?" All I could say was, just tell us again that this is not real, and all part of the program. And that's exactly what he told us, but it didn't stop tears welling up in my eyes, feeling the implication of such a loss. Today has been an odd experience, different than I had anticipated. The sheriffs then invited us to come view the "mock crash scene", which was very well done. Firemen used the jaws of life to rescue injured teens from the cars, ambulances sped away with them as soon as they were extricated, casualties were put in body bags and transported away by the coroner, a field sobriety test was administered, and the driver was handcuffed and taken away. The kids and public officers did a great reenactment of the scenario.

Wes and others had makeup applied to appear "dead" after being taken from class and were not allowed to speak the rest of the day.

We definitely left impacted...but when we came home and watched his mock obituary played on WRTV, it was heartwrenching to realize what other parents have suffered, when these accidents could have been easily prevented. You can watch it HERE.

Wes will spend the remainder of the day and evening being immersed in the consequences of driving while intoxicated. He will watch as a fellow student portraying the driver is sentenced in court and he will visit a memorial for teenagers that have lost their lives. He will hear stories from parents that have lost their sons and daughters this way. Tomorrow we will participate in a similar assembly. I imagine Wes will be forever changed. We hope those around him will be also.

2 comments:

Alli grins said...: Oh my! I can't imagine the impact this experiment had on everyone involved. Wow! The white "death makeup" is especially attention-getting (unless there are those who wear it everyday;-) I hope none of us every have a real experience with a drunk driver!

On an unrelated note, I tagged you on my "OH NO" post on my blog. Take a peek for all the details when you have a minute. I think seeing everyone's pictures will be fun. Hope you are all doing well! Miss you...; March 26, 2009 at 5:34 PM
themechams said...: April, Just reading this gave me chills. I love/hate it. So powerful, but almost too much to think about. What a great experiment for your kids.; March 28, 2009 at 1:25 PM

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Quotable Quips and Laughable Life

I decided that I wanted to add a small section with little things that my kids have said or done over the years that I never want to forget and I think are worth sharing. Unfortunately I was much better at writing these things down a bit late in the game....Chelsie steals the show here a bit. If only I could remember all those things I thought I'd never forget. I hope you take my challenge to write down all those things you hope to pass on one day.

When Chelsie was about 2 she had been jumping on my brand new couch, so I promptly told her to stop jumping on the nice furniture. Her response was very logical. "Then where's the mean furniture?"

While camping in the Sequoias, the entrance sign read, "1 bear incident this week...." Kelly mispronounced it as 1 bear accident....later in the bathroom, Chelsie noticed wet spots on the floor, and announced, "This must be where the bear had the accident."

We had a family home evening on choosing the right, and we thought Chelsie understood but when we asked her she said, "Yes, don't choose the left!"

When Kelly was in the 5th grade, she needed to use the classroom phone to call me. She dialed 9 to get an outside line, then she had to dial 1 because I have a long distance cell phone number, but she accidently hit the 1 twice. When the 911 dispatcher answered she was scared and just hung up. 5 minutes later the front office called the classroom stating that 3 sheriffs had arrived ready to take action and were wanting to know who called and why. Now it was by sheer coincidence that this was a morning that there was a prison breakout, so officers were on high alert. Kelly was embarrassed then, but can laugh about it now!

When Wes was about 4, he used to tell everyone that he was going to marry his friend Elizabeth, and that they were going to have 16 kids, and maybe a car.

When Chelsie was 3 1/2 we told her she needed to learn to spell her name. She responded, "I already know....A L I Z A."
(That was her best friend who taught her)

I was talking with my girls about the weather, and Kelly said, that stupid beaver was wrong, spring is not around the corner. Chelsie then chimed in, it's not a beaver, it's a warthog. Clearly I have failed them.