Head Home Safe


How many students heard the message of your project?
1500


Estimated percentage of your student body?
81-90%


Who has your project aimed to reach?
Freshman class, Sophomore class, Junior class, Senior class, Community at large


Objective:
Our goal this year was to create awareness throughout the school district and community about safe driver awareness. We achieved this goal through safe driving promotion in school by way of guest speakers, a social media campaign and having the students work in the community to identify safe driving related issues and develop ways to solve those issues.


Target Audience:
The target group for this project was the entire school aged population. We organized events for all four levels at the high school, as well as doing projects with the lower levels in our school district.


Execution:
This project was broken down into several smaller projects that were completed throughout the school year. We started with a project that tried to connect the students’ actions with their emotional ties in a “Who do you Buckle up for” campaign. The students were asked to name a person who they cared about most and link it to the reason why the always wear a seat belt. This was then displayed for all passers by in the cafeteria in an effort to remind students that when they wear a seat belt, it is for the sake of everyone they care about.

This year we were lucky to have multiple guest speakers from NJM

Michael Tullio presented to the entire sophomore class in January. He spoke about the licensing process as well as the importance of following the GDL laws. It was very interactive and the 10th graders walked away both entertained and informed

Mike McCormick and Pat McCormick from NJM also came to speak with the Junior class. This was done in a classroom setting over multiple days. Their presentations focused on distracted driving and the impact that driving under the influence can have on a community.

The most fun project we completed this year was our outreach to the elementary students. Our club traveled to the elementary school and did a presentation to the students about the importance how to be a good passenger and pedestrian. The lesson was very interactive and informative at the same time.

This year’s final project was a pre prom assembly held for over 500 students who were attending this year’s prom. The focus of this assembly was to stress the importance of not driving while under the influence.

We had student actors playing the roles of intoxicated prom goers who were in a fatal accident. We enlisted help from our school resource officer, the Hammonton Police Department, and an ambulance and EMT members from Atlanticare, all in an effort to educate our classmates on the dangers that exist when a person chooses to drink and drive.


Teamwork: 
The evidence of our teamwork was in the success we had as a group this year. This was one of the largest groups we have had in a long time. And with each new project that we did in school, our group size grew. We were constantly having new members signing up to be apart of our program because they were enjoying the projects and wanted to be apart of something themselves that served a greater good.


Use of resources: 
For our mock crash we were able to get help from our local police force and hospital in order to properly deliver our message to the student body. Having these resources involved in our mock crash allowed for it to be more realistic, and therefore stick in the minds of our student body.


Use of media: 
One of the best tools we were able to use this year was our own school media. The Devil’s Advocate, which is our school’s very own media group was able to promote and help with our cause. They promoted our events on social media as well as producing the videos that were in our project.


Thoroughness:
Our project demonstrates an understanding or teen driving safety, because every project we came up with was decided by the students. They brainstormed the ideas after acknowledging many issues within their own driving world. This allows for the students to acknowledge and develop solutions to problems that exist in the teen driving world.


Impact:
The ability to measure change and impact in our community is difficult because our goal was to bring driving and passenger safety to students of all ages. One of the best was to measure was the turn out at events and feedback we received throughout of school district.


Sustainability:
We believe that the lasting effects of our project are immeasurable. The lessons taught to the student body are ones that will last a lifetime.


Unexpected Lessons Learned:
I believe the students were surprised by the amount of interest in these projects that the students and staff had. We found out that a lot of the concerns the students in our group had, were also shared throughout of school district.


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

Gift cards, materials for projects – $250

Banners and t shirts – $500

Bussing – $200

Total $950

MEDIA

PLEASE NOTE, SLIDES 7 and 14 CONTAIN VIDEOS.  PLEASE CLICK TO VIEW.