By Kim Hilsenbeck.
Shattered Dreams aims to educate high school teens about the dangers of drinking and driving. In recent years, the event evolved to convey the very real danger of texting and driving.
And while the mock accident is evocative and emotional, depicting what a real-life crash scene might look like – including the arrest of a drunk driver – another aspect of the event is equally powerful: the assembly.
Each year, on the day after the mock crash, students who took part in the event as crash victims, the Living Dead and student helpers, face their peers in an assembly. The goal is to convey the depth of impact the event had on them and to dissuade their fellow students from drinking or texting and driving.
Hays High senior Mayson Shelton stands in front of a casket during the Shattered Dreams assembly on Friday. She played the role of the drunk driver who killed three fellow students and severely injured a fourth. She was booked into the Hays County Jail for about two hours. During the assembly, Shelton and other students who participated in the mock accident the previous day spoke to the audience about their experiences. All had messages for their fellow students to take it seriously and not drink and drive. (Photo by Kim Hilsenbeck) |
Twenty-seven students stood in front of about 1,500 students, their parents and school faculty, describing how it felt to be part of the Shattered Dreams cast.
Sitting out in front of them was a shiny black casket from Harrell Funeral Home, closed, representing the deaths of three accident victims along with a group of Living Dead students who “died” throughout the previous day.
Their messages and pleas to their peers were met with nervous laughter, silence and the occasion tear. The students shared their feelings and experiences about being in the cast.
“Every 15 minutes on average, someone dies in an alcohol-related accident,” Estaban Villapondo, a Living Dead cast member, said. “Every time you heard the heart beat [over the PA system], it signified someone’s death. It’s real.”
He talked about how some students joked around and laughed during the event, in particular in a class where Villapondo was pulled by the Grim Reaper.
“If you take anything from this [event], understand that you could be the person who changes the atmosphere of an entire group. I need you to be that voice of reason,” he implored.
“After you’re taken [by the reaper], you’re just by yourself,” Mason Salinas said. “Before yesterday, I began to wonder why I was even doing this. As a guy, it just wasn’t ideal to be in a heavily emotional project such as Shattered Dreams.”
He went on to explain how he realized that the people most heavily influenced and inspired by the event were those who drew personal connections with people in auto accidents. He said he also knows the project was started to help prevent the losses and suffering that people go through from these types of accidents.
“I’ve come to the conclusion if I can just change one person’s mindset about the severity of these accidents and the trauma it causes then this project would be a success in my eyes,” he said. “I would rather have people’s opinions of [drunk/text driving] changed during this kind of event than [to have to] go through the real thing.”
