California

McKinleyville High Defines The Reality

McKinleyville High School maintained a tradition of excellence from Northern California schools with State Farm’s Project Ignition by making the nation’s Top 10 in the latest competition. McKinleyville’s success comes on the heels of Eureka High School’s two consecutive years of Top 10 finishes in 2009 and 2010. The Top 10 project from McKinleyville is titled A Sobering Reality: Teens and Drunk Driving.

The program’s goal is to knock down the myth that teens need alcohol to have fun and escape the boredom of a rural community. McKinleyville High incorporated driver education teachers and the school chapter of SAAD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) to help present the facts to the student body. The students were motivated to build a meaningful program because every year Humboldt County has one of the highest percentages of incidents of drunk driving in the state.

A Sobering Reality: Teen and Drunk Driving uses classroom activities, media, displays, and public announcements to get the message out. Like Eureka High, one of the methods employed by McKinleyville was use of the impaired-vision goggles. Having teens do various activities while wearing the goggles will illustrate how difficult it is to drive a car while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

They also created a wall at the school where students can post their experiences of the perils of drinking and driving. The hope is the descriptions will have an impact on students that read them and deter them from participating in unsafe driving habits

“The entire community of McKinleyville is extremely proud of the students and the work they did to get the word out about such an important topic,” said State Farm Agent Bill O’Brien. “They are definitely role models for students of all ages.”

Project Ignition is sponsored by State Farm and involves high school students putting together service-learning projects to spread their own messages about driving impaired and how distractions can lead to tragedy. The program is based on teens talking to teens about safe driving.

“It was an immense pleasure working with the students on the Project Ignition program,” said Faculty Advisor Clover Schinke. “They embraced the challenge right from the start and inspired each other along the way.”