High School Students Witness Shattered Dreams Demonstration

Sirens blared, police, firefighters, and paramedics responded to an auto accident in the parking lot of Windsor Locks High School Thursday.

The Windsor Locks Youth Services Bureau, , Windsor Locks Wellness Coalition, , , , , and Hartford Hospital conducted the event to give high school students a sobering look at what can happen if they drink and drive. 

The event, SHATTERED DREAMS, is based on the Chico, CA, Every Fifteen Minutes prevention program, so named to show the number of alcohol-related fatalities in the United States during the mid-nineties, officials said. 

This year's program was supported by donations from Travelers Insurance through the Charles S. Carillo Agency; Bearingstar Insurance, a member of the Arbella Insurance Group; the Windsor Locks Police Officers Union, and a Local Prevention Council grant through the Capital Area Substance Abuse Council.

Students from Windsor Locks High School role played participants in a mock driving-while-intoxicated accident on Thursday. The event took place in the morning at Windsor Locks High School.

Officials said the program is a very intense and challenges students to think about drinking, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions, the shattered dreams of those who drive after drinking, the innocent victims, and their friends and families. The program coincides with "prom season," a time of year when teenagers need to be reminded of the importance of responsible decision-making, the dangers of underage drinking and the risks of impaired driving (or riding with a drinking driver), a press release said.

Before the demonstration, the Grim Reaper circulated through the school taking a student from a class every fifteen minutes to represent the every fifteen minutes someone in the country dies in auto accident, Ellen Kloehn, an event coordinator, said.

The entire school community had the opportunity to view the results of the mock accident. Students got a realistic view of what it takes to extract a person from a totaled car, the type of life-saving procedures emergency medical personnel use, and the consequences of failing a field sobriety test.

A video of the demonstration will be shown during an assembly on Friday.