On April 2, 2019, there was a staged car crash in the parking lot at the Sugar Mill Pond campus. As the performance started, they revealed the car crash and the actors and actresses involved. These people were juniors and seniors that we all know and love. They reenacted what the accident would have been like and how they would have reacted. Real paramedics and police officers showed up to show the high schoolers consequences that come with distracted driving. Junior Virginia Vascocu, senior Taylor Domingue, and senior Cameron Hartman were actually taken as if they had passed away. Throughout the rest of the day, obituaries about the participant were read over the intercom and they were taken out of class. The other students realized what it would be like without their friends in class. Jordan Berube, junior, said, “It was hard coping with the fact that I would no longer be able to make memories with these people. They had a whole life to live that has now been taken from them”.

On April 3, the student body was seated in the gym for a presentation. The Junior League, the nonprofit that put the event together, showed us a video about everything we did yesterday and what had happened behind the scenes. Senior Hailey Young was taken to jail and put into a cell, while the “injured” students went to the hospital and laid in a hospital bed. Then, real-life car accident survivor Eric Searcy was brought to the front, and he told his story. He mentioned how great his life was with his baseball walk-on and his beautiful girlfriend. But another human being ruined his dreams of playing college baseball the day he found out that he made the team. He was celebrating with his friends downtown in Lafayette when a drunk driver hit the car that he was in. He woke up 30 days later in a hospital bed and was paralyzed from the neck down. Searcy was then transferred to multiple hospitals and facilities in order to get some feeling back in his body. After about a year, he was finally able to use his arms and hands again. To this day, he is still in a wheelchair. He even stated, “I love my life, I just hate the way that I have to live it”, which I hope made people realize that they could be in his position one day.

This was a great experience for the high school students that will help them to learn a great lesson. Most students are learning to drive and will soon get their license, so they need to think responsibly. Decisions that you make can greatly impact another person’s life, especially if it is a bad decision.