By Anthony Robinson

Every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies from an alcohol-related collision.  The program Every 15 Minutes was hosted at Atlantic High School on Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5.

On Monday, students were pulled from classes every 15 minutes of the day by the “grim reaper.”  After the student was taken from the room, a local police officer and another community member read the student’s obituary aloud to the students present in the class.

After each “killing” the “deceased” student was escorted to the auditorium to be “made dead.”  The student’s face was painted white with black around the eyes and the student was not allowed to talk or interact with students for the remainder of the day.

During the afternoon of April 4, a simulated traffic collision took place in the east parking lot.  The local police, fire department, emergency response team, funeral home and KSOM news department took part in the simulation.  English teacher Terrance Shuman, seniors Brett Dennis and Carli Thornton, and juniors Taylor Barry and A.J. Richter were the five Atlantic High School volunteers in the collison.

During the simulation, Barry was the drunk driver who crashed her car.  Dennis was pronounced dead at the scene, Schman and Richter were sent the Cass County Memorial Hospital for further treatments, and Thornton was life-flighted before being pronounced dead.

Barry was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

After school was out of session, the “walking dead” still had many activities to take part in throughout the night.   First on the agenda, the “walking dead” traveled to the Cass County Courthouse to watch the simulated sentencing of Barry.  At the trial, Thornton’s mother read a statement about the life of her daughter.  Dennis’ mom also had a written testimony that was read by the Cass County attorney.

The “living dead’ then returned to the high school where they heard speakers and wrote letters to their parents. The students spent the night at Atlantic High School.

On Tuesday morning, a funeral service for the “dead” students was held at Atlantic High School.  At the funeral, 2009 graduate Ally Garrett performed “If I Die Young” (accompanied by Jesse Stewart) and “Angel.”

Each of the students participating in the Every 15 Minutes program was required to write a letter to their parents.  Each letter started out “Dear Mom and Dad, Every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies from an alcohol related collision, today I died.  I never had a chance to tell you…”  Each of the parents of the students also had to write a letter to their student.  Seniors Tierney Kamies, Shelby Svoboda, and Carli Thornton, and juniors Zoe Kruger, Savannah Hoye, and Sara Forster volunteered to read their letters aloud at the funeral service.  Each of the students were choked up during their readings.  “The people who gave their speeches seemed pretty impacted even though it wasn’t real,” junior Ryan McDerrmott said after Tuesday’s service.

Many students felt that the funeral portion of the program was the most impacting part of the entire experience.  “I’ve been to teenagers’ funerals and they aren’t fun. The last one I was at was my brother’s.  They (the students) did a really good job to make it legit and real,” senior Ian Goerhing said.

“The funeral (was most impacting) because you were sitting down and understanding,” senior Kristy Stevens said.

Dan Keough, the Director of Emergency Transport Services at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines gave a presentation to the crowd at the funeral, reminding the students and parents in the crowd the real consequences of driving under the influence and failing to wear a seatbelt.

The main goal for the entire event was to inform students about the consequences of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

This article contains information from Every15minutes.com.