Drive Safe Dons!

While+shocking%2C+the+organizers+of+the+Red+Ribbon+Week+work+to+visually+press+the+issue+of+drunk+driving.+The+demolished+car+on+display+on+the+Academic+Quad+illustrates+one+of+the+consequences+of+driving+under+the+influence.+

Sahara Kiskis

While shocking, the organizers of the Red Ribbon Week work to visually press the issue of drunk driving. The demolished car on display on the Academic Quad illustrates one of the consequences of driving under the influence.

Sahara Kiskis, Features Editor

“Let your dreams become a reality. You can’t do that while sitting in a jail cell.” Cathedral Catholic hosts yearly Red Ribbon Week to provide students with the opportunity to learn the consequences of alcohol and drugs, especially under the influence while driving. Mrs. Bascom, the Dean of Counseling and Wellness, gives an insight on how she chose the Red Ribbon Speaker this year. Originally before Covid, Bascom was in contact with the speaker to partner up with them as they had the chance to see a courtroom live and in person.

“Then, when Covid happened, they were kind of able to adjust their presentation style, so specifically why it was a webinar was still to have the opportunity to have these conversations and do it in a safe way for Covid protocol, but the messaging is so important to not do it was also not the answer.”

Bascom desires to continue spreading awareness on this topic throughout the Dons community. Not addressing the dangers of driving under the influence would not be beneficial and promoting this heavy topic is significant. 

“Personally, I like this opportunity for you guys to be in your classes and to have those smaller conversations. I think it can be challenging in a gym to have 1600 students staring at one person, but when you are in a classroom with twenty people that you’ve built relationships with and a teacher you have a trusting relationship with to ask honest questions and have honest conversations about it and the topic is heavy.”

When planning this out, Bascom thought that students being in their classrooms with their teachers would bring them together as a whole and having those honest conversations would overall make this a memorable and effective experience. 

“Doing it over Zoom is a new way for us to communicate with each other that we didn’t have access to before and to reach so many different people.”

This school year has been all about slowly transitioning from previous Covid school years and bringing the pros from the pandemic with one of them is new ways of communicating. Zoom became and is still a way of being able to communicate to millions especially essential for educators to teach. This school year’s Red Ribbon Week Speaker may foreshadow the future ones to come. 

“My hope from this is for everyone just to stop and think and to take that moment, especially as it relates to drinking and driving and it’s 100 percent preventable.”

Bascom hopes that students can make the safest decisions that promote wellness and safety which they can also encourage and hold each other accountable.

Two students, Sophia Krich and Taylor Heckemeyer, gave their perspectives on how this year’s Red Ribbon Speaker affected them.

“I thought it was pretty cool to see the court scene because it was interesting to see the process of exactly how it works when someone gets a DUI.”

Krich mentions that seeing the actual process of an individual in getting a DUI is important so one can know and visually see the consequences of driving under the influence. Watching this process can encourage one to avoid this situation.

“When in doubt, don’t go out.”

This catchy phrase from the presentation is one of Krich’s takeaways from this opportunity. This can be a reminder for students and the rest of the Dons community to make decisions that can save their own lives and the lives of others.

“It was kinda scary so it might scare people into not drinking and driving.”

Heckemeyer expresses that watching the harm that drinking while driving causes can cause fears to grow and encourage safer driving. 

To conclude, it’s up to us to make good choices and driving under the influence is a bad choice, because your life and the lives of others are at risk. Each Don is full of potential so driving responsibly is crucial to allow us to have futures in which our dreams can become our realities.