by Phoebe Farris ’20

Years ago, Sherwood had several programs in place to educate students about the dangers and consequences of drunk driving. One of these programs was called “Every 15 Minutes.” The two-day event, with a name derived from a statistic that someone was killed by a drunk driver every 15 minutes, was a haunting, two-day-long demonstration. This harrowing learning opportunity consisted of a simulated car crash, trips to a funeral home, and an assembly comprised of first-person accounts from family members of people lost in drunk driving accidents which served as a sobering reminder of the real-life repercussions of drunk driving. Another past program that served to encourage good decision-making was the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), a club open to upperclassmen that promoted education about the dangers of drunk driving within schools by way of community events, promoting legislation, and a “Contract for Life.” 

In recent years, however, Sherwood has lost these programs. The Every 15 Minutes program was canceled in 2013 due to an “Insufficiency of Resources” as written by Alec Perez in a 2013 issue of The Warrior and in the past couple of years, the Sherwood chapter of SADD has pretty much disappeared. This brings up the question of whether destructive decision education at Sherwood is adequate enough to properly educate students about the risks and pressures they face in their everyday life. 

One teaching method that has been effective in schools across the county has been Physical Education departments bringing in family members and friends of victims of drunk driving accidents to give a first-person account on the dangers of drunk driving. One of these speakers is Juliette McGuire, the sister of Hayley McGuire who died along with Johny Hoover and Spencer Datt in 2011 in a crash involving a drunk driver. Along with Magruder, her alma mater, McGuire has spoken in health classes at Gaithersburg and Northwest. 

McGuire feels as though MCPS does an adequate job of encouraging students to make good decisions and as for whether school programs have an impact on students, “SADD has a big impact on students, I think if it’s not open to freshman and sophomores it definitely should be.” As for continuing to get her message across, McGuire said, “I am more than willing to spread awareness.” 

Another experience many students recount is the graphic drunk driving accident simulation videos which have seemingly left a lasting impact. According to Caroline Sokol, a Sherwood graduate who is now a freshman at JMU, “Mr. Parsons showed us some pretty gory videos. I mean how could someone not be affected by that?” Another way students are getting informed about driving safety is when they take driver’s ed classes outside of school in order to prepare to get their driver’s license. During these classes, students are shown very similar graphic videos that demonstrate the consequences of driving while intoxicated.

All of these measures along with stricter impaired driving laws have had an obvious impact in recent years. According to an article by the Maryland Highway Safety Office, “With an average of 2.59 deaths per 100,000, Maryland currently ranks 8th lowest for the number of impaired driving deaths per capita.” While this is impressive, It is still important that students continue to be informed about the dangers they face if peer pressure gets the best of them.