CTE Students Power Past Snow Days to Deliver ‘#DriveSafe’ Message

Farwell Junior Adam VanBuskirk attempts to text while driving on the simulator at the #DriveSafeCTE launch assembly in January.

Students at Beaverton High School take the #DriveSafe pledge on Feb. 11, adding their names to those of students from high schools in Farwell, Harrison, Gladwin and Clare.

For teenage drivers, one second can change peoples’ lives forever. That’s the message behind a local student-led initiative to persude teens against distracted and impaired driving.

The #DriveSafeCTE campaign began when Criminal Justice students in the CTE program received a $1,000 grant to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving. CJ Instructor Jeff Erickson said it mushroomed into something much bigger despite Mother Nature’s best efforts.

“This is a complete student-driven campaign powered by my second-year students,” Erickson said. “They wrote and won the grant after spending considerable time designing the campaign – the logistics, the tagline, the execution, everything. And right after we launched it, the snow days started piling up. It’s been incredibly difficult to get momentum with all the cancelations, but these kids have really put in the time to make it work, and they’re doing very well in raising awareness, which was the goal.”

The grant was awarded through the state’s S4SD program and Ford Driving Skills.

The campaign began at an assembly for all 300 CTE students in January. The Criminal Justice kids brought in two distracted driving simulators and expert speakers from the fields of law enforcement and the insurance industry. Students took a survey to assess their understanding and attitudes about distracted and impaired driving, and they received a bracelet with the campaign slogan – Yeah, it’ll just take a sec.

“The students’ thinking with the slogan was that it only takes a second while you’re driving for things to go horribly wrong,” Erickson said. “People think they can safely check their phone or text or fix their hair while they’re driving, but they need to realize how incredibly dangerous it is. It is the number one killer of teens and it’s just so important that we get the information out to students.”

Farwell senior Chloee McMann, one of the leaders of the campaign, said the group is using social media to simultaneously engage students and spread the word.

“We’re running a social media contest between all the schools,” McMann said. “The school that generates the most likes, comments and shares using a unique hashtag will not only gain bragging rights over all the other schools, but they’ll win a huge #DriveSafeCTE assembly for their school, with excellent guest speakers, contests, games and driving simulators.”

“We wanted to take this out to a whole lot of kids, so the impact is greater,” added Clare senior Tyler Dilecki, another project leader. “By sharing it through social media and our events, we hope to reach a broad span of students and help come up with a solution to this problem.”

For his part, Erickson is impressed with the above-and-beyond efforts of his class leaders.

“I’ve been blown away by their effort,” Erickson said. “They’re out there grinding, really working to bring this important message to their peers, and they’re doing it in a creative, engaging way. I couldn’t be more proud of these kids.”