Living reality

Deirdre Newman

Corona del Mar High School senior Brandon Lewis laid on the ground

splattered with blood. The black Honda he had been riding in had just

been hit by a drunk driver. When the paramedics came, they pronounced him

dead on arrival, zipped him up in a body bag and drove him off in a white

hearse.

Although the crash was a reenactment and Lewis was just acting as a

victim, the episode served as a brutal reminder of the savage effects of

drunk driving.

Rachel Colgate staged the crash scene -- known as “Every 15 Minutes”

to reflect how often people die as a result of drunk drivers -- on

Thursday for her senior project. Today, the 18 students who participated

in the project will share their thoughts with the juniors and seniors who

witnessed it.

Colgate, 17, scheduled the crash scene to occur on the last two school

days before the prom to leave an indelible impression on students’ minds

about the dangers of drunk driving.

“I know that being a teenager, we’re faced with really tough decisions

sometimes,” Rachel said. “My hope is that it will change at least one

person’s mind if they feel they wanted to drink and drive one night.”

Rachel, who is vice president of the student body at Corona del Mar

High, said she was first introduced to the program at a summer camp for

student leaders.

While the crash scene is the focal point of the program, the entire

event starts at the beginning of the school day when police officers,

including one dressed as the Grim Reaper, visit various classrooms and

pull students out every 15 minutes.

These students become “the living dead” -- the officer reads their

obituaries and for the next 24 hours, these students are not supposed to

have any contact with anyone.

The crash scene involved four participants -- the only one that

survived was the drunk driver, despite the efforts of paramedics to get

the victims to the hospital by helicopter and ambulance.

After the crash scene, all 18 participants visited a courtroom to

learn about the legal ramifications of drunk driving. Then they went to

Pacific View Mortuary to hear more about the consequences of accidents

involving alcohol.

For the night, the participants were sequestered in a hotel to further

authenticate their “deaths” to their friends and family. At the assembly

today, these students will read letters they wrote about things they wish

they had done differently in their lives and how they feel about their

loved ones.

After the crash scene ended, and the last drop of blood had been

erased from the sidewalk, Principal Sharon Fry urged the students to

remember the palpable sense of fear and sadness that the scene evoked.

“Please take this into your heart and think of what you feel when you

see someone you know lying in a pool of blood that has just been declared

dead,” Fry said.

Senior Sara Bryan, 17, said watching the reenactment unfold was a

definite wake-up call.

“I felt this could happen to me any day,” Sara said. “This pushed me

over the edge. I would never think about [drinking and driving.]”

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .