Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
Holding her 4-year-old brother, Jacob, in her arms, junior Ashli Walker reads to freshman and sophomore students the emotional letter she wrote to her family as a result of being one of the “walking dead” in the “Every 15 Minutes” program during the follow-up assembly Tuesday at Liberty High School.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | 2:03 p.m.
Senior Shaun Murrray listens as student participants in the "Every 15 Minutes" program speak to freshman and sophomores about the seriousness of drinking and driving during the follow-up assembly Tuesday at Liberty High School. Murray was one of the "walking dead" students in the "Every 15 Minutes" program March 19.
Related link
The freshmen and sophomores of Liberty High School heard Tuesday what it's like to die young.
Eighteen schoolmates described their experiences in a mock fatal car crash last week in which students played the parts of a drunken driver and the crash victims. It is part of a program called Every 15 Minutes that is designed to prevent drinking and driving.
Throughout the day on March 19, other students were taken from class every 15 minutes to illustrate how often someone dies in a drunken-driving crash.
All of the participating students spent the night in a retreat, away from their families, until an assembly the following day.
The freshmen and sophomores saw a video of the simulated crash today and heard the stories of the students who participated.
Ashli Walker, 16, a junior, who was one of the "walking dead" during the program last week, said the thought of dying young came home to her when she thought of her 4-year-old brother, Jacob Brady.
"At the retreat, we had an exercise where we had to visualize the most important person in our life," she said. That person for her was Jacob.
"Then we had to picture ourselves in an accident and being told that we weren't going to make it. We had to picture the most important person to us fading away," she said. "When I pictured him not there, that hurt me really bad."
As she told her story to the freshmen and sophomores who filled the bleachers, she held her brother, emphasizing the point.
The Henderson Police Department has been bringing the Every 15 Minutes program to Henderson high schools every two years since 2001.
"The peer-to-peer connection is important," Hull said. "That's who they listen to the most."
The experience of the retreat was emotional, even for the football players who normally do not show emotion, said Carlos Tautoto, a senior.
"I don't usually cry, but I let some tears out," he said. "I had to."
Phoebe Baker, 17, a junior who produced the video, said the younger Liberty students seemed to take the assembly more seriously than her class did when she went through it two years ago.
"Our freshman year, a lot of people laughed," she said. "This year, a lot of people cried. They took it seriously."
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy