Get There Alive, Just Drive
How many students heard the message of your project?
750
Estimated percentage of your student body?
91-100%
Who has your project aimed to reach?
Freshman class, Sophomore class, Junior class, Senior class, School professionals, Parents, Community at large
Objective:
The objective for this project was to spread awareness of the issues regarding distracted driving. In order to do this, we decided this year to also participate in the Just Drive PSA contest. We spent many weeks planning and preparing for what message we wanted our PSA to focus on and how to share that message with our school community, and our local community as a whole. We decided that our PSA would focus on NJ’s GDL Laws. We created a script for our PSA and then got volunteers from our club to star in the PSA. We also asked one of our wonderful student actors at DelVal to participate. We then recorded and edited our PSA. We loved the outcome so much and decided in order to get this out to as many people as possible, we would make car air fresheners with our slogan and logo to hand out throughout our school and entire community, including local businesses. We added a QR code with the link to our PSA because that would allow us to also track how often the PSA is being seen by the number of views it gets on Youtube. To date we have over 490 views!! As a club we have done numerous events and used several social media platforms to share our PSA and spread our safe driving message. Our main objective is to spread awareness in order to get our entire school community to drive safer. We believe between our creative and informational PSA and inventive car air freshener marketing idea, we were able to achieve our goal and objective of spreading awareness of the importance of being a safe driver.
Target Audience:
For our project, the main target audience was teenagers, however we also wanted to share this safe driving message with our entire community. Even though new, young drivers have busy lives, we wanted to stress the importance of following the rules of the road. Between being on social media, talking, and playing music, a person can lose focus of what is happening on the road which puts them, their passengers, and other drivers at risk. Many teens become overconfident once they get to a certain skill level, so we really wanted to emphasize that lawmakers are not creating these laws to punish, but rather to keep people safe. Despite these distractions for young adults, we know that teens aren’t the only ones who can drive distracted. This is why our goal is to encourage safe driving for all ages and skill levels because we know that human lives are so much more important than whatever song you want to play or Snapchat you want to take.
Execution:
Our project was to provide a public service announcement and a reminder of what rules you should follow when on the road with a graduated driver’s license. Some examples are to not have more than one person in the car when driving, no electronic device usage while driving, and not driving past 11pm. This is to help remind teenagers that are new to driving that there are still some rules and limitations in place when just starting to drive in order to help keep us safe while still learning the intricacies of driving. We also brainstormed about how to get this PSA and our safe driving message out to more than just our school, but the community as a whole. We decided that making car air fresheners with our slogan and logo on them as well as a QR code with the link to our PSA would be an amazing resource to use. We had the car air fresheners made with the stipend we received from the U Got Brains Champion Schools Program and then gave them to our local car washes to hand out to their customers for free. We also gave them to our local driving school to also hand out to students and their families when they set up their driving hours with them.
Teamwork:
With new members comes a change in how we operate the club. During weekly meetings, both officers and members have the opportunity to brainstorm ideas and take initiative. For those who are unable to attend meetings, transcripts, and attachments are issued via email immediately after the meeting’s completion to ensure the entire club is fully informed. Ever since remote learning our group has integrated virtual meetings for when events are on short notice or an unprecedented event occurs; sometimes that includes asking members to stay after school. As a club, we prioritize team communication, and by no means should the opinions and ideas of members be hindered due to a lack of space for them to express themselves. At times we may ask members to team up and tackle a task to not only complete it but to get to know each other in the process. With a sense of comradery comes great enthusiasm that drives our members to volunteer for events and contribute in any way they can. Our members and on occasion, fellow peers help aid our participation in programs like these due to a sense of unity and communication fostered within the club.
Use of resources:
Some of our best resources were our own DelVal students with amazing talents and skills that helped make our PSA amazing! We used a performing arts actor and DelVal Junior, Dakota, to star in our PSA and to really bring up the mood and positive message that we are trying to bring across in the video. Even though he is not a member of SADD, we thought his enthusiasm and theatrical skills would really show in this short video and make the video fun and light-hearted, even though the message is serious! His talent and role in the PSA made such a huge difference. We also used the editing talents of a senior, Gio, who is a member of SADD, to edit the video footage we recorded of everyone and really make it come to life in a creative, fun, yet informational way. We used one of our SADD member’s cars to help make the PSA more real and relatable to teens even though the vehicle was never moving.
Use of media:
We made great efforts to use the media to aid and share our project and message. This is most simply done through our social media accounts such as our Instagram and Facebook pages where we upload our weekly posts as well as updates for our club events. Our accomplishments are also sent out in our school’s newspaper, The Delphi, and our school counseling department’s newsletter, in addition to the Facebook pages of Prevention Resources as well as eight other community pages throughout our county and our neighboring county. We also made use of media greatly with our Just Drive PSA for NJMInsurance, which won second place! We proudly shared this locally through the use of QR codes that brings up a link to our PSA. We placed these QR codes on the back of 600 customized air fresheners with our slogan “Get There Alive, Just Drive”, so people could scan them and reach our PSA on Youtube as well as get an air freshener with a friendly reminder to drive safely. Then, we not only handed these air fresheners out to staff and students at our school, but also distributed them to local car washes in both Hunterdon and Warren counties in order to better reach the community. We also distributed some to our local driving school to give out to students and their families when they come to do their 6 hours of driving lessons.
Thoroughness:
Thoroughness means paying great care and attention to detail. Our project shows an understanding and thoroughness by stating NJ’s GDL laws. We portray the laws in a creative way, by using a “news reporter” to state each specific law between car scenes. It’s important for teen drivers to know the risks and consequences that can quickly follow if they do not follow the GDL laws. Our club used a comedic aspect to draw in our targeted audience. The “news reporter” talks at a fast pace making the viewers able to stay locked in, in order to pay attention to the important message he is sharing. We also show thoroughness by making sure our safe driving message was shared with as many people as possible by sharing it on social media, making over 600 car air fresheners with a QR code that links to our PSA and distributing them to local businesses to give out to customers for free.
Impact:
We measured change and impact in our project by working together to come up with the ideas for the PSA, and worked as a team to discuss what ideas we thought most resonated with teens and the younger audience we were aiming for. We thought that creating a video that showcases many issues that teens face while driving without their full license, and giving reminders to show that teens with their probationary license should keep following the laws put in place to keep themselves and others safe. We created a PSA with an upbeat approach, while still getting our serious safe driving message across. Another way we are able to measure change and impact of our project is by seeing how many views our PSA has on Youtube. Right now we are over 490 views, which has increased tremendously since giving out our car air fresheners to local businesses.
Sustainability:
Our project will have a long-lasting impact on our community for several reasons. The first reason is our targeted audience was students who are just now getting their licenses and we made sure to share on all our social media so we know kids saw. We also made car air fresheners to be spread around our community that included a QR code with our PSA on it. We will also request that our Driver’s Ed classes are shown this PSA (and any others we make) every year. Since our PSA is on Youtube, it will be able to be viewed over and over again. Since our PSA took 2nd place in the Just Drive competition and we were awarded money, we can use that money to continue spreading our safe driving message to our staff, students, and entire school community. One of the ways we hope to help is to contribute some of our winnings to DelVal’s Project Graduation.
Unexpected Lessons Learned:
At the beginning of the project, we did not expect to include the “newscaster” Dakota, in the project because he is not a member of our SADD club. However, with his enlightening attitude and vibe, it was a must for him to be a part of this. And by including other DelVal students in our project, it helps get our safe driving message out there to all students and staff. Our editor, Gio, really reached past our expectations when editing the video, and it was such an enjoyable and learning journey for everyone. We also learned that even though we are a smaller school compared to many of the schools that participate in the Just Drive and U Got Brains Projects, we still can create a fun and educational project that can compete with all of the schools involved.
Stipend Reporting:
Your school received a stipend to support your Champion School Teen Driving Safety Project. Additionally, any funds that you raised as a result of your project must be reinvested into transportation safety. The purpose of this report is to itemize expenditures for your project that were paid from the stipend
Description Car air fresheners – $686
Pledge gift card winners – $40
Gabe Hurley Assembly – $350
Total – $1076
PROJECT MEDIA
