Every 15 Minutes

2013 Every 15 Minutes group for West Hills High School 

West Hills group at the Pine Valley retreat

Drinking and driving is one of the top three leading causes of accidents and deaths each year.  In the program "Every 15 Minutes", police officers, like Officer Brian Pennings, raise awareness in high school students of the dangers of drinking and driving.  
A selected staff at the high school chooses approximately 30 to 40 juniors and seniors who they believe are leaders among their peers at school to participate in the activities.  The staff usually knows for about 8 months prior that the program will be held at their school, the students involved don't know about it until about 2 weeks before it occurs and the students of the school don't know about it until the day of the activity.  The reason for this is that they want it to be more realistic and for it to have more of an emotional impact on the students.  The students selected who are considered the "walking dead" are removed from their classrooms by the grim reaper, every 15 minutes.  The walking dead students are suppose to represent the amount of people killed in an alcohol related accidents while they are at school each day.  The same day they have a reenacted accident scene at the front of the school.  In the accident, the drunk driver survives, while the passenger and pedestrian involved are pronounced dead and the victim in the other car ends up paralyzed.  Just like in a real accident, the drunk driver goes to jail and to court, while the rest of the victims go to the hospital and or mortary.  The families of the deceased, the survivor, and the driver all appear in court to speak on the behalf of their loved ones.  The walking dead also get to listen in on the case to see how a real drinking and driving case would play out.  After the court house scene, the students in the accident meet back up with the walking dead students and they all go on a retreat for the night.  At the retreat, the students listen to speakers talk about their personal experiences with alcohol.  The stories vary from drinking and driving accidents, alcoholism, or family members who struggle with alcoholism.  The students are asked to write their parents letters all starting with "Dear mom and dad, every 15 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..." and the parents do like wise for the students.  Officer Brian Pennings assures you that at the end of the retreat you are going to want to hug your parents more than ever.  After eating breakfast the next day, they all go back to school to be part of an assembly in front of the rest of their junior and senior class.  The parents of the students involved are present at the assembly as well.  During the assembly, the students get to listen to guests speak about drinking and driving accidents, as well as a doctor who deals with the people who come in after such accidents and a judge who has dealt with drinking and driving cases. Needless to say, after this eye opening experience, the students appreciate their parents and the rest of their classmates a lot more.  It opened their minds to the real dangers of drinking and driving and how one mistake can effect not just them, but everyone around you for the rest of their life.