Granite Hills High School, CHP present 'Every 15 Minutes' mock DUI collision scene, aftermath
By Martial Haprov
EDITOR
Friends and family mourned the lives of 27 Granite Hills High School students who were ceremoniously dead for a day.
The students were pulled out of their classrooms one by one every 15 minutes on Thursday, and had no contact with anyone other than each other for nearly 24 hours.
This was part of a detailed presentation from the school and the California Highway Patrol called “Every 15 Minutes,” aimed at showing 11th and 12th graders the reality of drinking and driving.
The presentation began Thursday morning with a “slam scene,” where students converged outside the school and watched as emergency personnel attended to a staged two-vehicle crash.
One student played the part of a drunk driver who slammed his vehicle into another car with two people inside. The passenger of that vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver was airlifted by CHP personnel. The drunk driver was arrested and taken away.
Students watching the aftermath of the mock crash then returned to their classrooms. Throughout the day, a person dressed as the “Grim Reaper” and a CHP officer every 15 minutes went to one classroom after another, tapped a student on the shoulder, and took them away. They placed a black cloth, a rose and a photo of the student on that desk — the materials remained at the empty desk all day — and the CHP officer read that student’s obituary aloud to the class.
On Friday, the “dead” students, classmates and families converged for a mock mass funeral, where they each read farewell letters to attendees.
Planning for the two-day presentation began in November, according to Patti Stueland, activities director at the school. She said they’ve put on the program every two years since 2009 in early spring in hopes of making juniors and seniors aware of the dangers of drunk driving before they go to graduation parties and proms.
“We want them to see the effects of positive and negative choices,” Stueland said. “This is all a huge project, but if it saves one life, it’s worth everything.”
The CHP offers $9,999.99 in the form of a grant to make the program happen, according to Stueland. Then students in the school’s Associated Student Body start putting it all together.
They reach out to businesses throughout the Victor Valley to help put on the program, including towing companies, local hotels, local medical personnel and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, among others.
They also put together a video throughout the two-day event, filming scenes of the drunk driver heading out on the road, the “slam scene,” and the driver being put in jail following the arrest.
“We just hope that kids who view this will want to make smart choices,” Tanner Boggs, ASB president, said on Thursday. “Everyone who we reached out to in the community donated something. Everyone was very cooperative — it took a lot of time setting it up, but it went very smoothly.”
CHP officer Matt Hunt, who helped coordinate the project, said the kids who worked tirelessly on the project were great.
“We just hope to save lives,” Boggs said.
Martial Haprov may be reached at (760) 951-6236 or at MHaprov@VVDailyPress.com.