By Bella Kim
“Every 15 minutes,” someone in the United States dies from an alcohol-related accident. Rest in peace…
Los Alamitos High School’s intercom announced this message on Thursday, March 2, followed by the name of a student declared “dead.” Throughout the school day, 21 students were called out of their classes to represent the statistic that someone in the US dies in a drunk driving incident every 15 minutes. Every 15 Minutes is a national program that illustrates the consequences of reckless driving.
On Thursday, students Chloe Veith, Sofia Youngs, Cameron Stewart, and Nicholas Leung were part of a staged car crash during lunch. Victims wore makeup showing grievous injuries. The “living dead,” the 21 students who “died” during the day, stood solemnly watching the scene wearing white face paint and black Every 15 Minutes t-shirts. Sirens blared as police, firefighters, and EMT arrived on the scene.
Every 15 Minutes participants could not tell their peers that they were going to “die,” so witnessing the crash scene hit some students hard. Even though they knew it was fake, students felt shocked when they saw their friends, bloodied and unconscious, slumped in the destroyed cars.
“I thought I lost one of my closest friends,” said Sebastian Taylor, junior. “It makes me feel very aware of the potential dangers of drinking and driving and being distracted while driving.”
“In the moment, you definitely feel a lot more than you thought you would because it feels so real,” said Lindsey Meehan, one of the living dead.
“Kids tend to think death is far away for them, but all it takes is one good scare and you will know you are not invincible,” said senior Alex Morper, a boom operator for Griffin News.
In the program’s storyline, Stewart, under the influence of alcohol, was driving with his friend, Leung. He crashed into Youngs’ car, where Veith sat in the passenger seat. Veith and Leung “died” on the scene. Officers gave Stewart a field sobriety test, arrested him, and took him to the Los Alamitos Police Department. EMT placed Youngs, in “critical condition,” on a stretcher and rushed her to Los Alamitos Medical Center.
Griffin News produced a video of the event that premiered during school assemblies on Friday, March 3. Strike squads split up to film the different story arcs. One team filmed heartbreaking scenes of doctors trying to save Youngs and informing her parents that she had passed away. Another group went with a police officer to Veith’s house, where he told her parents that their daughter had been killed in a car crash.
“It made me think that there’s no reason for anyone to ever drink and drive, seeing the impact that it has on friends and family and their community,” said Veith’s mother, Lacey Veith.
Griffin News also went to Westminster Municipal Court for Stewart’s mock trial and the morgue for Youngs’ funeral service. In jail, Stewart said that he has to live with the knowledge that his one mistake caused the deaths of three people.
The next day, freshmen and sophomores attended the first assembly. The car crash victims, living dead, and their families attended the second assembly for juniors and seniors. A casket covered with pink flowers sat in the middle of the gym, the same casket shown in the footage of Young’s service at the morgue.
In the film, the victims’ parents’ voices broke as they mourned that they would never see their daughter or son grow up, go to college, or get married. Stewart’s anguished friends voiced their regret that they didn’t take his keys or do anything more to stop him.
“The truth is life is precious and young students have so much ahead of them,” Lina Lumme, Youth Center CEO and Every 15 Minutes program coordinator, said.
“At the end of the day, all it takes is one strong person to be the voice of reason and save a life,” said Mr. Brown, Los Al Film and Television and Griffin News teacher.
After the video, Marilyn Ellis’ speech about her daughter Kimberly, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1997, brought tears to parents’ eyes. A real example of the horrifying effects of drunk driving, Ellis described the night she received the call about the crash and how her older daughter screamed when the doctors told them that they couldn’t save her sister.
A few of the living dead read letters they wrote to their parents about what they never got to say because they “died.” Meehan’s older sister, imagining her little sister gone, cried while she read her letter and moved the audience to tears.
“It helped us reflect on the potential impact of making poor choices, and it really brought into focus how big an impact it would have on the family if something like this really happened,” said Eric Sorrenson, father of Colleen Sorrenson, who played one of the living dead.
Every 15 Minutes showed students that one death every 15 minutes is more than just a number. It’s one person, one daughter or son, one sibling, one friend. One person’s decision to drink and drive also affects everyone who loves them. Students might think that this happens to “someone else,” but for those who knew the people in those cars, they were that “someone else.” They could have been in that car; their parents could have been the ones who lost a child.
“I hope students will remember this experience and will not drive under the influence,” Lumme said. “I hope that they will find the strength to take the keys away from someone who should not be driving.”
Thank you: The Youth Center, Seal Beach Lions Club, Every 15 Minutes, Los Alamitos High School, Griffin News, ASB, volunteers, Los Alamitos Police Department, Seal Beach Police Department, Cypress Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, Orange County Fire Authority, Cypress Forest Lawn, Orange County Jail, and other local businesses involved in bringing Every 15 Minutes to Los Al.
Editor’s Note: Los Al Griffin Gazette staff writers Isabella Gasper and Alicia Tan contributed to the research and interviews for this article. This article was released by the Youth Center.