CRANDALL, Texas — Crandall Independent School District (ISD) officials hope a major crash re-enactment and Shattered Dreams presentation at Crandall High School on Thursday morning prevents drunk-driving incidents and even death.
CRANDALL, Texas — Crandall Independent School District (ISD) officials hope a major crash re-enactment and Shattered Dreams presentation at Crandall High School on Thursday morning prevents drunk-driving incidents and even death.
Crandall ISD Superintendent Dr. Robert Jolly says he hopes the presentation is fresh on the students minds as they prepare for prom on Saturday night.
“If we can change the decisions of one student based on what they saw today then it’s successful,” he said. “Our prayer is that all these kids come back safe everyday. This week being prom, there’s more risk, theres more opportunities for decisions, and we hope this made an impact.”
Crandall ISD Public Relations Director Erin McCann says it has been approximately 10 years since the district has held a Shattered Dreams presentation.
Preparation for the program began weeks ago with students filming a party scene depicting students drinking alcohol. The short film was shown to the students on Thursday morning and concluded with students in the film grabbing their car keys.
From there, the students were taken outside to watch a live re-enactment of an alcohol-related crash — a result of the decisions made by the students, in the film, to drink and drive.
The re-enactment was a massive undertaking with students playing roles of injured and deceased with emergency personnel from the Crandall ISD Police Department, Crandall Police Department, Crandall Fire Department, Combine Fire Department, and CareFlite ground ambulances and a helicopter responding to the scene.
Students returned to the classroom following the re-enactment with the exception of one student who had died as a result of the alcohol-related crash.
Every 15 minutes for the remainder of the school day, one student was pulled from their classroom, dressed as a deceased person, and returned to their classroom — unable to speak or interact with their fellow students.
McCann says this signifies a statistic that every 15 minutes a teen loses their life from distracted or drunken driving.
“I hope all these kids see that this is not just for show,” Crandall Fire Department Captain John Taylor said. “This is a very real scenario. Were not doing this just to try to scare them.”
“We want them to see that there are affects of having that drink and then driving. It can end someone’s life, it can end your life, a stranger’s life,” he said. “Not only does it affect you, it affects your family, it affects another person’s family, it can affect people’s entire lives.”