The wrecked car reeked of stale booze. Dozens of empty beer cans littered the backseat floor, and in that moment, their faces painted with fake blood and their peers ‘dead’ or ‘injured’ in the car next to them, seniors Abby Behrens and Arin Rice felt their situation was much too real.

Monday and Tuesday, students and faculty participated in a program known as “Every 15 Minutes,” which then extends into their slogan, “Every 15 minutes, someone dies as the result of an alcohol-related collision.” The program seeks to educate students on the dangers of distracted driving or driving under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

The events began Monday morning with a mock accident, and afterwards, every fifteen minutes, a student was pulled from class, painted in makeup and dressed in a black “Every 15 Minutes” shirt. These students represented the living dead and were not allowed to speak to anybody for the rest of the day. All student and teacher participants attended a retreat that evening and were not reunited with their families until the memorial assembly the next day.

“It was just very emotional for me and my family, because it was very real life,” Rice said. “You wouldn’t think it would feel so real, because it’s just acting, but it really struck a chord. My parents didn’t really want me to do it, just because of the way it would look to others. But I felt it would impact other people, and that’s what I want.”

Rice played the drunk driver in the accident, in a wrecked car from a real drunk driving accident. Behrens was her passenger.

 
“The car actually smelled like alcohol,” Rice said. “A person actually died in my seat. It was awful. There were probably like, fifty beer cans in the back seat.”

Behrens said waiting for students to come to watch the accident was awful, because things became serious.

 
“In there, it was like it was real,” Behrens said. “You just got this feeling. I tried not to think about it, but it was hard to ignore. I’m never putting myself in a situation like that again. I just wanted to get out of there. I would never ever want to feel that for real. I couldn’t handle it.”

After Behrens and Rice were extricated from their car, Behrens was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, and Rice was arrested.

“I had to do a sobriety test, do a pat down, do fingerprints, I had to be in a cell and then my officer had to read me all my rights,” Rice said. “I can’t imagine it ever happening to me, so that was hard to believe, but everything in the car was really serious, just seeing what happened to Parker. I want kids to take away how serious drunk driving is. I couldn’t stand to lose a friend to something like that, knowing I could have prevented it.”

Rice had to film scenes at the police station before the actual accident for the memorial service video. Senior Ben Wentz, the driver of the other vehicle, also had to film scenes at the hospital showing the death of a victim of a drunk driving accident.

“My part was kind of hard, because my eyes were closed the whole time,” Wentz said. “They did a fake ER scene. My parents knew what was happening, and they came in after I died. My mom held my hand, and her tears seemed pretty real. I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time because they were filming. That was the hardest part.”

Junior Pedro Garcia and seniors Clay Halencak and Janie Johnson were other victims of the crash. They all survived, but were taken to the hospital.

Johnson said it was the most difficult leaving her home and telling her father goodbye.

“My mom was out of town, so when I said goodbye to my dad, I was just thinking how terrible that situation would be,” Johnson said. “It was really emotional leaving my house when my dad asked if I was going to come home that night, and I had to tell him no. He was like ‘So what am I supposed to do?’ It was really sad.”

Senior Parker Houlette also played a victim of the accident, one who died on scene. His parents were called there to identify his body, and he was then transported in a body bag to a funeral home.

“I could hear my parents walking up, and then they lifted the sheet and I couldn’t open my eyes,” Houlette said. “I could tell my mom was crying. It was really uncomfortable, because I was through the windshield. But I could hear all the noises, and I kind of got nervous. It was an experience. I wouldn’t do it again to my mom, that’s for sure. However, in her words, if it helps one person, then it’s worth it.”