Just Drive!
How many students heard the message of your project?
1000
Estimated percentage of your student body?
61-70%
Who has your project aimed to reach?
Sophomore class
Junior class
Senior class
School professionals
Parents
Community at large
Objective:
Our project’s goal was to enhance the student body’s understanding of driving safely and ensuring to limit distractions and adhere to the rules of the road. Therefore, our main goals were to concentrate on driver focused and graduated driver’s license compliance as we feel both areas are the most common in our young drivers. Everything that we did was to reiterate the importance of driving safely and not being a distracted driver.
Target Audience:
Our target audience was the entire student body; however, it specifically related the most to the sophomores, juniors and seniors as they are in the process of getting their permits, licenses or already driving. We also made sure to get involved with community awareness as there are drivers on the road who may not currently be in school so we felt it was important to make sure our reach got out to them as well.
Execution:
We executed these topics using a variety of activities and initiatives which we began implementing immediately. Some examples that we implemented were created through a variety of activities which included creating hands-on lessons, the new parking spot for safe drivers, and speaking to our SRO officers, administration and student body about how to avoid being a distracted driver. We were able to promote these areas of focus into our students every day lives (both in school and out of school). Some of these activities we were able to promote outside the classroom were: the Share the Keys program, creating new programs with the WTPD to emphasize safe driving, using current events and social media to stay up to date on the most current information, creating a website to promote safe driving and other events that help to establish and restate our main goals.
Teamwork:
We worked as a team to design and implement the project by trying to lead by example. We wanted to ensure that everything we implemented with our students was being demonstrated by us as well. We felt that leading by example and our staff being on the same page allowed students to buy in immediately and see the bigger picture to being a good driver. We were able to create hands on activities that allowed for firsthand learning with our students outside of just reading the drivers manual. We invited local instructors from driving schools to speak to the kids about behind the wheel driving, our school resource officers to talk about their experiences with distracted driving, created a scavenger hunt for kids to find signage provided by local family members of the community who experienced the loss of a loved one due to distracted driving, etc. When selecting students for any projects we wanted to make sure we got a diverse group that represents the community in which we live. In doing so, we were able to create a strong team to move forward with that positively represented Washington Township and our push for safe driving.
Use of resources:
We used a variety of local resources to help us with our implementation of safe driving. Below is the list of resources used:
- Local police department
- School resource officers
- Administration
- Health and physical education department
- Local behind the wheel instructors
- Community & parents via share the keys
Use of media:
We used a variety of media to help enhance our implementation of safe driving. Below is a list of ways we utilized media:
- Wake Up TWP morning announcements
- Newspaper/news articles to create current events
- Social media current events
- Created our own personal website
- Tik Toks about distracted driving
Thoroughness:
Our project demonstrates an understanding of teen driving safety by making sure everything we did had the common goal of our student body driving safely. Whether it was through our social media outlets, classroom designed lessons or speaking to local resources, we were able to implement and reiterate the common message to our students. We feel as though through this process our school and community is a safer place.
Impact:
We measured change and impact of our project by communicating daily with our student body. We had our kids set goals in the beginning and we made sure to have them check their progress along the way. This allowed for daily progress as well as the long term success of our goals.
Sustainability:
We believe our project will have a long lasting effect within our target group because we utilized local resources that will help serve as daily reminders throughout the duration of their driving career. Everything that we designed was for the end goal; which was to have students and the community work together to be the safest drivers they can be.
Unexpected Lessons Learned:
Some unexpected lessons learned where how the pandemic has still affected some of the students and their progress towards retaining their permits, licenses, etc. Typically, you see students taking the test as soon as possible where some students seemed to be more hesitant and in no rush due to being use to not going anywhere.
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 Mock Roads, Drunk Goggles, etc – $500.00
Signage, Traffic Lights, etc. – $500.00
Total – $1,000
PROJECT MEDIA
