The Every 15 Minutes Two Day Program

Every 15 Minutes is a two day program designed to target high school seniors. Deputies and officers meet with students and discuss topics related to drinking, driving, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are at stake.

DAY ONE

Law enforcement officers present a 30-minute video to students in class. The viewers witness the tragic aftermath of a drunk driving crash. They realize that the injuries and fatalities that result from drinking and driving are entirely preventable. Officers discuss the responsibility that each of us shares when choosing to drink and drive, or when we allow others to drive when they have been drinking.

Throughout the day a "Grim Reaper", accompanied by officers, removes a student from the classroom every fifteen minutes. Volunteers transform the pre-selected students into the "walking dead" by painting their faces white and having them wear black robes. Their "obituaries" are posted in the classrooms.

The students return to their class. The students represent those who die or are seriously injured nationwide in alcohol-related crashes. They don’t speak or take part in any activity for the rest of the day. After school, the "walking dead" are treated to some fun (bowling, movie, etc.) and pizza for their help.

While students are off having fun, a law enforcement officer and a chaplain contact the parents of one of the students. The officer gives the parents a simulated death message, telling them their child will not be coming home because he or she was killed by a drunk driver.

Although the parents are pre-selected, and have agreed to participate, most are not prepared for the emotional impact that comes from receiving such a message. The parents have agreed to attend the assembly on day two and share their feelings with the student body. The participant students return from the movies and are kept overnight at a local motel chaperoned by adult volunteers.

The senior class attends an assembly that shows them how drunk driving can forever effect people's lives.

The watch a skit in which a group of teenagers has a drinking party, and one of them chooses to drive home after having a drink.  They watch as paramedics attempt to revive a victim who has been hit by the drunk student. The intoxicated driver is arrested by the responding officers for vehicular homicide.

After the skit, one of the parents of the "walking dead" talks to the audience about the simulated death message they received the night before. This is a very emotional part of the program. The parents describe their feelings of losing their child at the hand of a drunk driver.

Then a guest speaker whose life was impacted by a drunk driver speaks to the students about their personal story.

The assembly ends when the "walking dead" make a pledge not to drink and drive, then encourage the remaining student audience to make the same promise--in front of their teachers and peers.

"Having the Every 15 Minutes program at my school made me further look at my decision to never drink."

--Castle Rock senior