GREENFIELD — Greenfield High School prepared a mock drunk and distracted driving crash to try to get through to kids ahead of graduation season.
Through screams, five students showed the chaos and tragedy that can happen if they drink and drive as hundreds of students looked on.
"It's a great opportunity for students to see the reality of their choices," Principal Paul Thusius said. "We know students are faced with a lot of decisions all the time, and hopefully this will help students think that through."
Greenfield is just over two weeks from graduation. Parties and celebrations are abound as students prepare for the next chapter of their lives. However, this demonstration hopes to make sure they can enjoy the next chapter.
"Kids tend to be faced with more of those tough decisions around homecoming, prom or, in this case, graduation," Thusius said. "That's where it hits home."
The reenactment is as real as it can be. There is blood, deployed airbags, first responders using Jaws of Life to pry the roof off the vehicles and victims with varying severity of injuries, including one student who is carried out in a body bag.
"Losing my loved ones," said Omarion Bartlett, a junior at Greenfield High School. "Not saying goodbye. Not seeing my friends. Things running through other people's minds."
Bartlett said he didn't get too scared of being in the body bag, but thoughts of his own mortality raced through his mind. He and the other students involved in the demonstration hope it has the same impact on their fellow classmates.
"I think it kind of impacted them more seeing people they see on a daily basis at school," said Victoria Alvarez, a senior at Greenfield High School. "I think we were able to strike them with the impact."
After the demonstration, the students will reconvene to discuss what they saw so they understand one bad decision can be deadly.
"With broken legs, being dead, having a DUI on your record, that changes everything for people," Alvarez said. "They don't realize it's not a lot of giggles until it actually happens to one of them one day."
Greenfield High School graduation is set for June 8.
