GHS students learn scary reality of drunk driving

Greencastle High School student Lindsey Bridgewater films a re-enactment of a prom night drunk driving accident while fellow high school student Amelia Smith is pulled from a vehicle and placed on a stretcher in the GHS parking lot Monday morning. The footage will be edited and shown to GHS students Friday, one day before prom night. (Photo by KYLE HOLLINGER)

One was arrested, three were taken to the hospital where one died from their injuries, while yet another was pronounced dead on the scene. The coroner told the parents of the deceased what had happened to their child.

As a staged high school event, "Every 15 Minutes" utilizes the cold shock of reality to highlight dangerous consequences of a fatal drunk driving accident.

Two vehicles had been "crashed" head-on in the parking lot, fake blood was splattered with meticulous detail on door handles and windows, the scene looked and felt real.

Greencastle High School student Cecila Pohlar films as firefighters from the Greencastle Fire Department place GHS student Rebecca Moore on a stretcher after using the jaws of life to gain access to her in a staged drunk driving incident at the high school on Monday morning. Putnam County emergency personnel worked with the school to stage the event, showcasing the grim reality of car accidents and carelessness on nights such as prom night. (Photo by KYLE HOLLINGER)

Students actors Taylor Secrest, Rebecca Moore, Elijah Secrest, Amelia Smith, David Maginity and Michaela Semak brought the tragic scene to life for both bystanders and video cameras, acting out the drunken confusion, tears and devastation associated with such a wreck.

The footage from the production will be edited together by students, with the final product being shown to the GHS staff and student body Friday afternoon, just in time for prom.

In the 1990s, California Highway Patrol (CHP) estimated that one person in the United States dies from an alcohol related incident every 15 minutes.

Sobbing in a prom dress on the parking lot of GHS Monday morning, Michaela Semack is one of several high school students who acted out what a severe car accident would look like, not just with the wreckage, but the emotional shock and turmoil of a fatal accident as well. (Photo by KYLE HOLLINGER)

With that in mind, they created the program that has since spread to high schools around the country.

Today, that rate has slowed, it is estimated that it is now every 30 minutes that an alcohol-related accident results in a fatality.

The death of a person every 15 minutes will be represented in a creative fashion on Thursday at GHS when a number of students will be put in white face paint and given a shirt proclaiming their death. The students will have an obituary read to their class and they will refrain from speaking or interacting with people for the duration of the school day.

Greencastle High School Student David Maginity plays the role of a high school student being arrested for fatally injuring two other characters in a staged drunk driving accident at GHS Monday while Ruth Heithaus (left) and Kaitlin Kessler videotape the incident. The scene was intense: two cars crashed head on, the jaws of life were used to remove a student and the driver of one of the vehicles realistically failed a sobriety test. Footage from the event will be used to showcase just how powerful and emotionally shocking a vehicle fatality can be. (Photo by KYLE HOLLINGER)

With GHS prom slated for Saturday, the event is meant to coincide with a popular night for high school students.

Prom coordinator and junior class co-sponsor Candy Fiscus is responsible for getting momentum behind the event, having only seen it happen one other time in her 13 years with the Greencastle school district and was impressed with the power of the mock accident.

"It was really emotional," Fiscus said.

The two-vehicle mock accident included a car's roof being removed by the jaws of life Monday morning in the parking lot of Greencastle High School. (Photo by KYLE HOLLINGER)

Fiscus worked in concert with GHS assistant principal Jennifer Finnerty to implement the program and both hope the event can be repeated once every four years to show not just high school students the dangers of drunk driving, but the community at large.

"Student safety is everyone's responsibility," Finnerty said, explaining that the community at large and parents also have a role to play.

Putnam County emergency services played a major role in making the event possible, providing assistance and personnel for the event, including using the jaws of life to remove two students from one of the vehicles.

"We got in touch with the (Putnam County) Sheriff's Department and they pretty much set everything up," Fiscus said.

The scene did not end at the high school, each of the characters in the drama were taken and treated according to what would happen in real life.

The drunk driver, played by David Maginity, was taken to county jail after failing a sobriety test and proclaiming he didn't hurt anybody in a slur back at the high school.

The driver of the other vehicle, played by Taylor Secrest, was loaded into an ambulance and pronounced dead at the scene.

Taylor's actual brother Elijah Secrest played a passenger in Maginity's vehicle. Elijah was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The Secrest parents were then taken through the ordeal, being told by the coroner that Taylor had died and while receiving that news, were also informed that Elijah had passed away.

Amelia Smith's character was loaded onto a stretcher and taken to the hospital, labeled as seriously injured

Student Rebecca Moore's character was injured and Michaela Semak's character was uninjured but stricken with shock and grief as she sat sobbing on the wet concrete in her prom dress.

The video aspect of the event was filmed by director/editor Cecilia Pohlar, Lindsey Bridgewater, Ruth Heithaus, Kaitlin Kessler and Hillary Johnson

The school has granted students the right to opt out from watching the video Friday if they so choose and counselors are prepared for students who may be impacted by the footage.