BY MORGAN SCHAMING AND CASEY MONTANA
Staff Writers

Many upperclassmen had a strong emotional response to the mock DUI crash program in early May, but senior Mara Meyer had a personal connection.

Meyer’s family recently dealt with a fatal car accident involving alcohol. Her mom’s cousin was a passenger in a car, and died in a crash, she said.

“It can happen to anyone,” Meyer said.

That was the lesson the senior organizers wanted to get across, especially with prom and graduation party season in full swing.

The program started with a preview video that was shown in the auditorium to all juniors and seniors. In it, a group of seniors portrayed students getting ready for prom, but some were drinking before getting behind the wheel.

Then the assembly moved outside to the central parking lot, where the senior participants acted out the events that follow a crash scene.  Emergency service vehicles, including a life-flight helicopter, soon arrived and the characters portrayed by Meyer and Alexx Suchy were pronounced dead at the scene.

The intention was to make the scene as realistic as possible.

Firefighters had to take the top off of a car to get senior Evan Snyder out. The other senior participants and history teacher Rich Deemer, who portrayed Meyer’s  father, screamed and became distraught. Senior Mitch Tarap, portraying the driver, was arrested and questioned by Officer Dave Artman.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be as crazy as it was. I thought it would look more staged,” Meyer said. “It was too real.”

Junior Mackenzie Voelker agreed.

“It was surprisingly intense. Even though the video didn’t look very real, the scene outside was scarily realistic,” Voelker said. “Some of the girls were screaming and the sound combined with the fire trucks and police cars was chilling.”

The upperclassmen were then sent back to class, only to return later in the afternoon for a mock funeral. The auditorium was transformed into a memorial site, and students watched a slide show video of childhood pictures of Meyer and Suchy to commemorate the losses.

Seniors Doug Altavilla, Mary Bekavac, and Stephanie Teahan gave speeches in memory of their friends. They talked about past memories shared and how much the world was going to miss them.

After the presentation came to a close, students came to the stage to sign a banner pledging not to drink and drive. The banner is now displayed outside the cafeteria.

The message is clear, senior Jordan Gitzen said.

“No one thinks it will happen to them until it does. You have to be prepared for everything,” Gitzen said.

Staff Writers Hannah Kail and Mikaela Thorne contributed to this report.