Reckless Driving is a Virus…Don’t Catch It!!


How many students heard the message?
726


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 of our project is to inform our community about the dangers of reckless driving, and how it impacts people around them. Our main objective is always to encourage safer driving habits for the entire DelVal School Community, not just our students. We had to get a little more creative this year, due to the shut down of schools in March. Most of our events were planned for April and May and therefore cancelled as a result. So we had to improvise, work hard as a team to get the message to our staff, students, and school community. We decided the best way to do this was to host a safe driving video/PSA contest to all staff and students to participate in by recording a video of why they choose to drive safe and encourage others to as well. We then shared our final video compilation to our school webpage and our school Facebook page to continue to spread awareness and our positive message.


Target Audience:
Our target audience is members of our community, such as teachers, students, parents, and siblings. We are targeting anyone who can drive, and anyone who will be starting to drive.


Execution:
We are executing this project by making a video from our peers about the dangers of reckless driving. We are utilizing the media such as email and public service announcements to get our message to the community. We are combining the creative ideas of our peers to create a video that is interactive and relevant to the importance of safe driving.


Teamwork:
We have worked together to create this project to spread awareness. Using teamwork we were able to get a lot of work done. We have also used teamwork in a sense with the students and staff as some of them helped us spread the word. Thanks to the teamwork of many people not only in this club, but in our community, we think that we successfully spread awareness.


Use of Resources:
This year, due to school being closed in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we had very limited resources to use. Our SADD group kept in touch via email and a few virtual meetings in order to address the changes we needed to make to our initial plan for our U Got Brains project. Most of our activities were cancelled because school was closed. So we had to brainstorm and improvise. We decided the best way to get our message out there and get as many staff, students, and families involved was to communicate with them via email, as well as post about safe driving on our school wide Facebook page. We decided the best incentive would be to host a contest with prizes. We asked staff (not eligible to win the prizes), students, and their families to make a short video sharing with us why they choose to drive safely. We gave them some sample prompts to use for these videos, such as “I drive safe because….” or “Driving safe is important because….”. Anyone who submitted a video was then entered into a raffle to win Visa Gift Cards. With permission, these videos were then posted on our school wide Facebook page for our entire community to view.


Use of Media:
Today, different types of media are important for information to be shared and received. For our project, the media was crucial in order to spread the dangers of reckless driving. Emails were sent out frequently in order to provide teachers and students with information about the dangers of such reckless driving. Additionally, the opportunity to send public service announcement videos was given to students and teachers to share reasons and facts about safe driving. The ability to express the positives of safe driving on social media was also an influential factor during the project period. We also participated in the initiative to post weekly tips on Tuesdays at noon to our school wide facebook page.


Thoroughness:
During this time, we try to be as thorough as possible, providing students with opportunities and information about dangerous driving. Emails are sent out often in order to educate students and teachers about the harmful effects of destructive decisions. We try to inform our school with the SADD club message—to prevent and overcome pressures or difficulties young people may deal with. Encouraging many students to share their own ideas about dangerous driving, allows young people to positively influence others by using their own creativity.


Impact:
The impact we hope to have is on the community of drivers and people who are just starting to drive. We want people to get the message to drive safely no matter what. We are conveying to our audience that driving distracted or reckless can be very impactful and also very dangerous. We want others to take away from our safe driving initiative, to drive more carefully and be aware of others and what is happening around you. We hope our message continues to encourage others to be safe drivers for themselves, their families, and the community as a whole.


Sustainability:
By creating a video, our club can impact more individuals. Our message can reach people across the globe, and be eternal on the internet. Our plan is to post the video, or some of the individual videos, to facebook; now, we can reach all members of the community. We hope the message of our video will stick with people throughout their lives, and create a lasting impression on the actions of drivers.


Unexpected Lessons Learned:
One of the biggest lessons we learned was how to connect with our community through quarantine and everything that is going on in the world as of right now. We learned that even if we don’t bring people physically together, individuals in our community were still eager to participate and we were still able to share our positive message and make a lasting impact on all.


Stipend Reporting:

  • Gabe Hurley Assembly: $500
  • Gift Cards to Video Submission Winners: $175
  • Food/Snacks: $75

Total: $750

MEDIA