(Chelsea Update would like to thank teacher Lisa Stebelton and student Lauren Bass, who wrote the story.)
Car accidents are the number one killer among teenagers. That is why Chelsea High School is taking part in the program “Celebrate My Drive” during the 2013-2014 school year.
This anti-texting and driving campaign was begun by State Farm Insurance in 2012, and the program is already making a huge difference in teenage driving habits.
It emphasizes the phrase “2N2” which means “2 eyes and 2 hands” on the wheel at all times. CHS plans to invite its students and the community to make a pledge not to text and drive.
Celebrate My Drive was created to ensure safe driving for teenagers and that is something CHS would like to help guarantee.
Along with educating people about teen driving, Celebrate My Drive is also a contest. To win CHS has its students and the community make a pledge to not text and drive. The school with the most pledges per category wins the grand prize.
CHS is in a category with more than 750 students, so we need to receive a lot of pledges to win. The prizes given by this campaign can make a huge impact at CHS.
The $100,000 grand prize is awarded to one school per category and includes a concert by a chart-topping artist. Four schools per category will win a second prize, which is a $100,000 grant.
Third prize is awarded to 45 schools per category and those schools will be awarded a $25,000 grant.
These grants can not only benefit CHS, but also help educate new drivers as part of the requirements are that 10 percent of the prize money goes to educating teen drivers.
For CHS to win Celebrate My Drive, there are many things that our community needs to do. Eduction, for one thing. We need to get the word out to the community to stop texting and driving.
The CHS Student Council is currently working on ways to get the word out. Once Chelsea has been educated, our high school will sign a pledge to say we will not text and drive.
This pledge is available for students and members of Chelsea ages 14 and older, and will be done during a “Commitment Period,” from Oct. 18-26, when all high schools will compete simultaneously.
Currently, there are 1,343 other schools registered.
Although this campaign is mostly geared toward texting and driving, this behavior is not the only driving issue for our community. Accidents occur far too often in our community, and education through Celebrate My Drive, can help with this issue.
Celebrate My Drive is a very important tool that can help Chelsea come together for the safety of our students. This isn’t a program to scare our community, but rather meant to inform and change that horrible statistic that car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths.
The CHS student council chair Tiffany Valencia, along with Principal Mike Kapolka, and our local State Farm representative Bill Ballagh are already making plans to get the word out to the community.
We hope everyone will support CHS by making the pledge 2N2 during the week of Oct. 18-26.
Be on the lookout for more information on how you can help and “Celebrate My Drive.”
