we're welcome back i'm your host mallory sugar this is the ad a show that discusses topics that teenagers today may face some teens today have face the difficult topic of drinking and driving whether it be from personal experience hearing a story or watching the news students have encountered this problem drinking and driving crashes are those that involve one driver with a blood alcohol concentration point zero eight or above which is the legal definition of impaired driving one in ten thousand high school say they have driven while under the influence today we have mrs kristen f joining us mrs neff is a teacher sponsor of the sad club at peters township high school and has been working with them for the past three years thank you for joining us thank you so much for me so sad stands for students against destructive decisions and if i'm right you still stand for students against drinking and driving why did that change and that is right it used to be focusing just on drinking and driving until about the mid ninety's and then they started realizing that that's not the only thing that students have problems with that they are facing in their everyday lives it's not just the drinking it's prescription pills it's marijuana it could be even something simple as an eating disorder it can be personal stress and so they want to take a look at everything that a student might say so than everybody can feel included in the club  instead of just focusing on the junkie because not everybody has that as a problem so when was that change made it was a mid ninety's i think it was in ninety seven so way before our time so what is sad exactly what do you do around the school who does it involve all of that so a couple things that we are known for specifically is the mock crash as the big one that people know the club for some of the other things that people don't really recognize as we always do to spread the word and the word with the best buddies program as well not using the word retard in its negative effects we also do the program in the fall where we're taking a look at some other kind of prescription drugs and how bad things some of the students from around the high school have probably noticed that there were body outlines around the school  taped on the floor so they were representing some teen deaths that have occurred norma's rate as opposed to previous years so we wanted to highlight some of those things and bring them to tension so suicide you know not just the drinking driving but distracted driving unfortunately that's the new wave they think the cycle of is going to start taking is towards destructive driving having a cell phone playing too much music too loud having too many friends in the car just all the things that you don't think about when you're sixteen seventeen years old that can really have a big consequence on your life so earlier you said about the mark crash what is that for people who don't know oh good question so the ma crash is an event that puts on every two years in we focus on the juniors and seniors because they are the ones that are invited to prom but there will be an alternate activity for the freshman sophomore to be involved in but the mock crash is basically a simulation of a crash it was as a result of drinking and driving impaired driving of some sort and allows the rest of the school to see what actually happens as a result so you get to really feel what it's like to have the sirens blaring and see your friend laying dead on the hood of a car having to see somebody get handcuffed  you know try to lift up somebody in your car's hand and then not respond so it allows the rest of the school to see what what it could feel like if it was somebody that you actually knew because unfortunately when you're you know so young you also don't think it could ever happen to you and it could and we just want to make it know what actually it entails and kind of kind of do a scare kept but also just make the realization that this is somebody who's friend this is somebody's daughter that might not be coming home the next day so the alternate activity is for freshman and sophomore so i just thought yeah the freshmen and sophomores this year are going to also hear about drinking and driving from teachers in the school and i think that's a really good thing because a lot of students think get again it's somebody that's not out in peters township but even your own teachers have gone through different experiences with drinking and driving and then afterward we are going to have a speaker who attempted to commit suicide and survived and he's going to come and talk about all the decisions that led him to that point how he could've changed his course of path in life just from you know the get go as opposed to letting it spiral in all the steps that somebody in the similar situation could take if they were thinking that they were going down that path and you know didn't want to live there's definitely other options and that's not the way to go there's other better ways so was this your idea of the mock crash or was it going on before you were in the mock rationing going on for years i actually watched it when i was in high school i went to moon high school and that is what got me so interested  sad from years ago it just hit home so like i saw my friends laying there on the ground i saw their moms on the side crying and i knew i never wanted to be in that situation and i knew i never wanted any of my friends to be in that situation so it's been going on for at least  yeah that wasn't obvious right so at this school it has been going on for about twenty years one of the ladies in charge that i work with is standing mcmurry at the ambulance department and her son was actually in one of the very first so she's been around for a very long time and we've got a lot of support from the community and from the teachers police fire department even nice part about it is that yes i'm here to do all the legwork behind it but it is all student run like they are coming up with the idea of what they want the the crash to entail like if they in previous years it's been focused at prom in some years it's been focused at before they even got to prom some have been after him this year they're coming up with their own ideas like do they want to focus on the drunk driver causing the accident or a distracted driver causing an accident so they're kind of taking it all and running with it so i'm really excited to see you what they come up with i know the gist of it and i'll keep that but in general the students are doing all the legwork like they are looking for donations they are meeting after school to come up with  game plans as to who's going to fill in role and who is going to unfortunately be the one that passes away who's the one that is going to be at fault because you know  amongst their peers later on in the day it's going to be interesting for them to answer this question so everybody needs to be prepared for anything that might entail but they really are are doing all the work and even the club members that are not involved directly in the crash are being involved and other ways there are going to be the ones that direct the students into the parking lot make sure that everything safer not just the observers but also the actors involved we have them working with the fire department already to you know see what else is needed on our end they're taking care of the technology or plus they are making sure that all the audio is set up they are introducing the speakers for the structure and software making sure that that smooth sailing while other people are focusing on the mark rasch so it's it does it takes a village but even takes a student village and it's really nice to see your classmates step up and take a  leadership role and really it's their crash so it's nice to just see the the caliber of you know student involvement in something that is so tremendous and such a good cause so do you have to be inside to be involved with them across or can you be like a student for many grade or well so in general i would say that the members of the mock crash do come from the club that way we know that they are serious about the message and they have put in their time and effort but anybody can be in the club so it does live leave it open to anybody also being in the crash as well you know we always have people come in the middle of the school year even whenever like dues are accepted anymore that say that they just want to help out they want to be involved in the video they want to be able to come and see what's going on behind the scenes so then they can report back to their classmates too  but we are very open to anybody joining her do you joining if i was looking to join oh well this is speaking up so you can come see me mrs neff or mr mccarthy any time during the school and we can give you  a little paper at the beginning of the years when we really open up membership as well as the rest of the clubs in the school and there is an activity fee and people that document that need to resign but at this point anybody that wanted to join and participate is more than welcome to at least come to our meeting our next meeting is actually on wednesday march fourteenth after school in the cafeteria so that would be and you also talked about another activity that you do with a sack club can you elaborate more on that the week  we are involved with and that is the one that focuses on students getting away from substance abuse in previous years we have worked closely with the counseling department at the school and tried to come up with activities or incentives for kids to stay drug free we usually do like a spirit day for each day that kind of relates to making better decisions about substance abuse so one of the themes might be like we're neon colors to break out and get away from you know the bad hazards of substances in we did like a twin day the one year so you know you actually like stuck with the body instead of you know just letting something as crazy as a pill you know take place of a real person connection so that's another activity that we really like to be involved with and i know in the future the cycle really wants  to spend more time focusing on that especially at the beginning of the school year because it comes usually in october right around coming week so we can kind of get everybody pumped up for homecoming and pumped up for ending substance abuse that would be a great idea right so when yes so earlier you said the reason you got involved with the sad program is because of your high school experience did you or anyone you knew were they involved with drinking and driving or like throughout your high school u make and i never wanted to see them end up in a body bag so i started getting really involved in the club as well we had a grim reaper day and that's the one that really shook me too and we do that at peterson of high school as well  where the statistic was every fifty one minutes somebody dies as a result of alcohol related accident so we paint their faces white and then they have to go around the whole day and not talk and wear black in an act like you know this is what it would be like if you know mallory wasn't in all your classes like you still see her and you remember her but this is what it would be like to not actually have a conversation with her and when i did that in high school i  you went home crying to my mom i said i never want to go to school without being able to talk to anybody again it was just so so powerful for me in terms of just the doing in driving like i definitely set myself up with friend groups that made better decisions like we did not drink at all on the weekends any time but you know there was kids who you know sometimes slide away and said i'm going to go to a party where there is alcohol but it was nice to know that they would come back in they could go to a party without drinking like there is definitely other things that you can do at a party like just socializing and having a great time playing games there's so many things and i think for a high school student now  there's so much pressure but there's also so many opportunities to steer away from that and even if they do make the bad decisions a drink you have the opportunity to you know use an hour or call a friend to come pick you  up things that i might not have had in high school a lot of my friends didn't drive so you know if you were stuck at a party and people were you know making that decision you just stayed out of you know risk getting in a in a car with somebody which you should never ever do there's so many other opportunities to avoid that situation do you have any advice for people who maybe are involved with the wrong crowd and want to find the right crowd like you did in high school yeah i think what i would like to say to the  out peter sounds of this all the students is they might think it's a minority that doesn't drink in you know do drugs of any sort but it really isn't it just is the loud minority that is is making such a bad influence and impact on what others perceive is going on in the community there are other options there's other activities that you can join in even if you don't want to join said and you don't want somebody to know like oh i don't i don't make those decisions i don't drink you know peer pressure is very hard at any school especially at peter's but i was i was stressed that they're not alone a lot of people are making good decisions and if you find yourself in the wrong crowd you know it's never too late to make new friends there are so many activities or so many clubs are open to everybody that you just need to put yourself out there and change it up i mean it's worth  it really is it makes all the difference so what would you have what advice would you give to someone who maybe is at a party has been drinking and see someone else strike you what advice would you give to someone to stop that like what steps should they take so the media thing is just that and any possibility of somebody getting in a car once you get behind a vehicle and i teach physics i know the momentum behind it when you're getting behind you know twenty thousand pound car you're going to do some serious damage even if you think you might have just had one step even for how small you guys are it makes a huge intake on your on your body so if you see somebody in that situation do whatever it takes you know steal their keys probably going to forget it anyway so really if you think that you're making an enemy at that point you're not making an enemy do what you can to plan ahead so then you're not in that situation like  that somebody is going to be the driver so not that you would you know have a bunch of you know drunken friends but at least you go into it knowing that if something happens like even if somebody gets sick or somebody is too tired tired driving is just as bad it's still impaired but planning like that also i think we all forget that you guys are under eighteen you have parents like your parents care about you so much and they don't want you to be in that situation and if it comes down to it calling your mom at two o'clock in the morning because you are not feeling safe there's no way anybody would ever question that and i i hope that high school kids realize that like you're not going to get in trouble for asking for help when you are trying to do the right thing and same thing with the police as well a lot of kids who do end up in that in that situation and say i can't call the police you know my friends are really sick because we'll get in trouble you're not going to get in trouble they are going to make sure that everybody is safe first and then we'll go back and analyze the situation so you know do not make a second bad decision to fix one bad decision so say you're driving home only one and you aren't at the party you're driving home and you see someone who you think it could be drinking and driving how would you report that so you can always call the police you can always dial nine one one that is absolutely fine  what i would do especially if you know the person because i wouldn't follow a stranger but if you can follow them home just to make sure that they are getting home safely but you can always down on one and just report it and they can stay anonymous so then you don't have to you know if you're afraid to you know face the person the next day just reporting an anonymous tip is absolutely the way to go because it's not worth it just hope that they make it home ok even if they make it home ok maybe you know they're swerving cars somebody else again across and then we're back to the same point somebody else's bad decision became a horrible consequence for somebody who was doing the right thing  from someone who has had experience known people who drink and drive why do you think people do it stupid decision that was the best question i've ever been asked because i would love to know the answer to that  i think a lot of it is peer pressure the drinking part you don't want to be the only person but you're not going to be the only person especially if you don't you know put yourself in that situation the drinking and driving i think a lot of kids are afraid they're afraid to come home late in this curfew so then they get their phone taken away they're afraid that they are going to get stuck at the party and then have to deal with the aftermath of somebody coming home or a cop you know busting it or just having to deal with cleanup but i think it's more of an afraid and not the ignorance of realizing that it's such a bigger picture than coming home five minutes late from a teenager's perspective i can totally understand that i mean you don't want to be in trouble but to save someone's life would be so much more important yeah i wish more people were like you know so you've said back that your parents want you to be safe what sued to have that conversation with their parents if i need a ride like how should one go about that one of the best suggestions i ever heard from somebody was having a keyword so then you didn't have to say anything on the phone and it's nice because you guys also text as well so you know somebody saw your phone you know send a text i forgot to pick up milk you know so somebody reading that might think oh you know she didn't pick that up for her mom at the grocery store but that is your signal i am in trouble i need i need help i need somebody to come pick me up so then you can just kind of slyly avoid any confrontation that you think you might have which you probably want anyway but at least it's putting it out there a lot of parents definitely from from talking to them they don't even realize that they're sending their kids to a party that might have something inappropriate going on so even just keeping them aware you know say mom and dad i'm going to go to this friend's house their parents let them drink but i will not drink like hearing that from a teenager and for that i don't have children yet but if i heard that from you know my daughter knowing that you were going to make a decision unlike some of her classmates like that just really stands up in terms of maturity and you know smart decision making so keeping parents in the loop they really are your enemies they're your friends  around something that i know i shouldn't be so you obviously know about a lot about the topic does that influence when you go out with your friends and you may be drinking like how do you maybe try to steer friends away not saying it would be like how does that like influence your every day life or whenever you go out on weekends not to dinner how does that affect you and i think that's a really good question too because even so i'm over twenty one obviously i am allowed to drink but that doesn't mean that i'm not drinking irresponsibly you know i too like to have you know a couple glasses of wine but when i do i make sure that i'm with somebody that can take me home i just actually had a friend called me this weekend funny that you asked  called me at one forty five in the morning asked for a ride home i left immediately no questions asked picked her up took her home took her to go get her car in the morning it was not a big deal so even adults have to realize that even though it's legal for you to drink you still need to take some kind of precautions in that's really nice now with with you know just having so much available lift to be able to avoid those situations like if i would have had that in college things would've been a lot different with some of my friends that didn't make it through from bad decisions so i know this has been an issue like for a long time would you say it's more an issue now than it was when you were a teenager or less or the same i think drinking and driving has been less of an issue i think we've in terms of side club and in terms of as a you know as america have done really good at hitting home that that is a bad decision and the statistics have gone down over the years what seems to be the new peril is distracted driving in terms of that like not realizing that looking down at your phone for a split second in your reaction time really makes a difference the other thing that seems to also be that drugs are becoming a lot more readily available is prescription drugs you know speaking prescriptions or buying them from friends of friends i feel that that's the new wave of things that we need to be focusing on not that drinking and driving has has gone completely away there's you know it's still prevalent but i think good efforts have been taken to diminish that as much as possible so far we've just got to keep rolling at it so we talked about peer peer pressure being like a big impact on drinking and driving and even texting and driving and everything like that do you think social media plays a big role in that too you just hit the nail on the head and it's really it's funny because if you ask an adult usually we don't really know what's going on so that's one of the best things i love about being the cycle sponsor because i hear about all the pressures that high school kids are going through from the student members i didn't know that you could snap chat you know a whole story you know record your whole night and people have gone through and you've probably seen it on the internet or in the news that people who have actually filmed themselves driving drunk like who would have thought that that was a good idea obviously not you know people like us but i think social media because there's always that that fight for more likes there's fight for being in the top why for people to know what you're doing people to know how cool you are and it's not cool  but i think social media takes a real big influence on where things have been going in terms of the destructive driving need to be in the limelight and part of the popular crowd or what is actually going on and i think that's why it makes it so hard for a high school kid to not realize that it is a minority that is making these bad decisions because when you look on facebook if you look on instagram people who are posting that are the people who are the minority but they're the ones that are trying to make it known that that is what everybody is doing but it's not everybody so as a society today not just high schoolers everybody how do you think we can like help solve that problem and maybe come together and realize maybe this is not what we should be doing with maria i think making a very like open dialogue and just making it  very trusting of each other and it's hard to you know as a as a young person know who to trust but you've got plenty of people in the school y teachers are more than willing to you know talk to you in just make sure that like you're on the right frame of mind we've got a great counseling department the school in general we have been asked many times for the fire department or the police to come and talk to high school kids because they want to know what is it that they can do to help you guys instead of speeding through a parking lot like how could they start you know waving towards getting a a fix on some things so it really does take a village and i think keeping an open dialogue and realizing that adults are not an enemy and kids are not stupid decision makers realize that everybody is just trying to have a good time and love life so thank you so much that looks like it's all the time we have for today for anyone that encounters a situation involving drinking and driving i hope this information can help you make the right decision thank you mrs neff are joining us it was a pleasure having you on our show remember to call the local police or any of the steps we talked about when you suspect that someone may be drinking and driving for it might save a life