Impact

How many students heard the message?
2000

Estimated percentage of your student body?
71-80%

Who has your project aimed to reach?

  • Freshman class
  • Sophomore class
  • Junior class
  • Senior class
  • School professionals
  • Parents
  • Community at large

Objective:
Our main objective was to illustrate the impact that unsafe driving can have on a community. We wanted to spread awareness of the dangers of distracted driving specifically, and how distractions can come in a variety of forms. Actions that people don’t take seriously can lead to major consequences.

Target Audience:
Our target audience was all ages. The main focus was on teen and young drivers who can be tempted by distractions while driving. However our PSA wanted to target everyone who is distracted at the wheel, regardless of age.

Execution:
Our project was focused around the distractions that come with the notifications from the phone. In our PSA, the main character is distracted by a face-time call and is killed in a car crash. In the end we showed how this could be prevented by using the APP we created which blocks notifications while the car is in motion.
The user can directly use google maps through this app which then frees the phone from all distractions. Through this, everyone can drive safely and disturbance free.

Teamwork:
In order to work together during quarantine we kept in touch using zoom, participating in daily meetings to plan how we were going to pull this project together virtually. We also discussed how we could reach the community and leave an impact on them. The team decided that a great way to spread our message was to not only create the video but to reach out to friends and family to be a part of our video. Each member of the executive board had a leadership role and responsibilities within the project to extend community involvement and guarantee maximum efficiency.

Use of Resources:
Due to Covid-19, many of our community resources were cut short. We intended on reaching out to local businesses to help spread awareness and hang fliers around town. We also wanted to involve local policemen and firemen in our PSA to make it as realistic as possible. We also hoped to use their prior knowledge on this topic and have their insight in our video to really show the severity of this issue. Instead we decided to use our own resources of family and friends to help spread the word by putting lawn signs outside, surveys, and other social media groups to help promote our messages.

Use of Media:
Along with our use of instagram we sent our PSA to our local school TV station and our school weekly, which is sent to every student, to relay our message to a larger audience.

Thoroughness:
Our project demonstrates a thorough understanding of teen driving safety as we based it on research of teen accidents throughout the country. After looking through data, we decided the most pressing issue was with teens and distracted driving through cell phone usage. We have had alumni killed in car related accidents and used as many resources as we could to base our PSA on, including talking with drivers ed teachers and local people affected by the accidents.

Impact:
Our app was designed to track its users all around the round. The app tracks how long the individual uses the app and how many notifications the app blocked. This will allow us to measure how many people downloaded and used the app. We will closely monitor this data and continue promoting the app. We plan on having all drivers ed teachers spread the app throughout their classrooms so that students can start using the app as soon as they get their license. We can also give rewards to those who use the app.

Sustainability:
Our video will leave the audience thinking twice about driving distracted in the future. Our app will have a lasting effect on the community since it was designed to block notifications while the car is in motion. This would hopefully help with distracted drivers and bring down the leading statistics on teen driving.

Unexpected Lessons Learned:
-How to trust yourself and others
-You don’t always have to be physically together to create something that has an impact
-It is possible to play video games while editing a video
-time management

Stipend Reporting:

  • Apparel: $600

Total: $600

As the U Got Brains Champion Schools Program is funded through the Division of highway Traffic Safety, funds raised as a result of the stipend received must be reinvested into transportation safety. If yes, please briefly report the total amount and how this money will be reinvested into transportation safety for your school/community?
Due to Covid-19, we were unable to host our safe driving event at the school in April. We planned on using the fundraising money to hire a hypnotist and have games and prizes based on safe driving. We are going to use this money to host the event as soon as we get back to school and to donate some of the money to app adjustments. Any personal funds left over will be given to seniors as a senior award next year for all their hard work on the PSA during this time.

MEDIA