CENTERBURG – All too often, alcohol and drugs play a role in prom and high school graduation events. In an effort to encourage substance-free year-end celebrations, AAA Ohio Auto Club awards $250 Year-End Celebration Grants, each year, to select Ohio schools. This year, Centerburg High School is one of seven schools to receive one of these grants.
In a letter of intent and video message, Student Council President Brendan Mapes said the school plans to use the grant money to fund a substance-free after prom on May 16 at a movie theater close to the prom venue. The student body came up with the idea, which Mapes hopes will show his peers that they can have fun in a substance-free environment.
“Not only does an after-prom environment with substances put our peers in danger, it also makes those students who make better decisions feel like outcasts,” said Mapes. “We cannot continue to allow those students that choose to avoid such a negative environment feel like they are in the wrong.”
Teen Driving Statistics:
The majority of drivers (65.8 percent) view drunk driving as a serious safety threat and social disapproval is nearly unanimous, with 91 percent saying it’s completely unacceptable in a recent survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. However, about one-third of motor vehicle deaths involve alcohol-impaired drivers.
Spring is particularly dangerous for teens, as they celebrate proms and graduation. Ohio Department of Public Safety crash statistics show that during April and May, 2014:
More than 8,000 16- to 20-year-olds were involved in crashes on Ohio’s roads.
More than 130 of these drivers were under the influence of alcohol.
Additional information about teen driving can be found at TeenDriving.AAA.com. More on impaired driving can be found at PreventDUI.AAA.com.
