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Public Information - Press ReleaseRelease
Date: Immediate Santiago High School Students to Witness DUI Consequences Students at Santiago High School in Garden Grove will experience the sobering consequences of drunk driving during a realistic simulation of a DUI-related auto accident on Thursday and Friday, May 20 and 21. The school is located at 12342 Trask Ave., Garden Grove. The two-day program, “Every 15 Minutes,” is an intense exercise that focuses on high school juniors and seniors as end-of-year school activities near, and is funded through the Garden Grove Police Department by the state Office of Traffic Safety and private donations. The students are challenged to think about the repercussions of drinking and driving, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when other lives are involved. To illustrate the emotional toll of drunk driving fatalities, volunteer students will be declared "living dead" on May 20 and will not be able to communicate with classmates, teachers, or their parents until the following day. Also on May 20, at 10:15 a.m., Garden Grove Police and Fire departments will stage a DUI-related crash in front of the school to be witnessed by all upper-class members. The 22 participating students will then begin the simulated journey of a person involved in a drunk driving accident. They will witness the police booking procedure, the arraignment process before a judge, and will visit a jail. In addition, students will be taken to a hospital emergency room and a morgue to observe what mock victims’ grieving families. That evening, the students will participate in an adult-supervised retreat, during which they will write letters to their parents about their experiences. Support will be provided to help the students cope with their emotions. The program culminates when the "living dead" return to campus and are reunited with classmates and parents during an assembly for the students. A keynote speaker will address the group about the grim realities of drinking and driving, and students and their parents will be given opportunities to share their thoughts and feelings. Tragically, life is not a simulation. Every 15 minutes someone dies from an alcohol-related automobile accident. Each weekend, each hour, a teen-ager dies in a car crash, and 50 percent of those crashes involve alcohol.
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