Riverhead Central Schools

     In an effort to educate their peers about the consequences of drunk driving, five students reenacted the results of a crash--from being extricated from the vehicle to being taken by helicopter to the emergency room, which was simulated on the stage of the school's auditorium by a team from the Suffolk Hospital Emergency Room.
    The simulation starts in the auditorium where the juniors and seniors in the school listen to the sounds of a party and then the decision to drive home with a car full of kids who have been drinking. The sounds of the crash and the voices of those who are injured is followed by a simulation of the scene of the accident on the street next to the high school. The students watch as the ambulances, fire department and rescue workers work to extricate the students from the car using the jaws of life to take off the door and the roof of the car. Students are taken out of the car on stretchers and one is flown out by helicopter. The shaken driver is made to walk the line and then taken away in handcuffs by the police. The final scene is back in the auditorium where one student, Kelly Euell, dies in the emergency room and her mother is called to "come to the emergency room." The simulation ends with a moving slide show of the students who were in the crash.
     "It's every mother's nightmare," stated Mrs. Euell after the simulation, still somewhat shaken. "My husband was too upset by the thought of this situation to even attend the event."
     "This is a very dramatic and very powerful simulation of a scene that happens every day," stated Mrs. Theresa Drozd, who coordinated the effort. "If we can prevent even one student from drinking and driving and possibly dying, all of this will have been worth it."
     SIMULTANEOUSLY, student members of the Suffolk County East End

Youth Leadership hosted an Awareness Day for all freshmen and sophomores. Sixteen topics were covered including: Domestic Violence, BIAS, Eating Disorders, Drug and Alcohol Awareness, Community Serv

ice, Smoking, Diversity, A.I.D.S. Awareness, Cops and Youth, College Planning, Teen Pregnancy, Suicide Prevention, Taking a Stand Against School Violence, Dealing With Grief, Conflict Mediation and The Urban League.
Students in the freshman and sophomore classes chose three of the workshops to attend. During these workshops, they received up to date information and had an opportunity to ask qeustions of representatives of the specified fields.