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Jim Cummings
SADD members make a choice
These Greensburg students want to be more than just another traffic fatality or statistic.
“It’s all about making good choices and how they affect our future,” said Greensburg junior Stew Smith.
Smith and his partners from Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) presented a two-minute skit about dangerous driving to their fellow classmates on Thursday. The actors stoically sat on boxes as they relived the fictional accounts of several students killed while driving. The story painted a stark picture, as the students recall the events that turned them into another nameless teenage traffic fatality statistic.
The students took turns interrupting and speaking over each other as they described the bloody scenes and crumpled cars. Some characters were killed while driving drunk but others simply drove too fast or too carelessly.
“Because of the choices they made, these students were reduced to statistics,” said senior and group member Brad Sefton.
The piece was titled “I’m Only 17” and emphasized the fact teenagers aren’t invincible.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” Sefton said. “It can all be taken away from you by making bad choices.”
School Resource Officer and Greensburg Police Lt. Bruce Copple worked with the students on the program and said it was very somber and powerful.
“It was very emotional,” he said. “A lot of the teachers were even affected by it.”
Everyone agreed the unique and realistic dialogue added a lot to the piece.
“It was like we were looking through their eyes, and re-living the events,” said sophomore and group member Ann Weigel.
Sophomore and SADD participant Mollye Leas agreed.
“It’s like a real conversation,” she said.
The group spent a lot of time preparing the skit and rehearsing the parts. They even attended workshops on the weekends to learn about projection and stage presence.
“We wanted to try something different,” Copple said. “Nothing like this has been done here before.”
The students also partnered with Teen Life Productions to present a convocation after the skit. Co-presentors Al Davis and David Weil used three film projectors and a dozen spot-lights to create a multi-media show that emphasizes the consequences of poor choices. They even filmed Greensburg students going about their daily routine and used the footage to add intimacy to presentation.
“Batman and first responders on 9-11 are heroes,” Weil said. “But, there are heroes in the hallway every day who don’t become a slave to drugs or alcohol.”
Like the student skit, the program is designed to reach students in a new way. Davis said the youth of today are born into a fast-paced, media-centric world.
“We don’t want to be just two talking heads,” he said.
Weil has been involved in youth communication since 1978 and Davis has been a youth pastor for 12 years. They were both very impressed by the quality of the student presentation.
“They didn’t miss a beat,” Davis said. “They did a great job.”
The students performed their skit again on Friday at North and South Decatur. Another motivational speaker, Kevin Wanzer, used humor to empower those audiences.
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