SHELBY — Some Pioneer Career and Technology students could not handle their school’s mock crash Friday. It was too reminiscent of a time when one of their own died from a crash just four months ago.
On Nov. 10, 2015, Katelyn “Katie” Volz, 16, died after her Nissan Sentra slid into a semi-trailer truck head on while she drove home from school. She was a junior in Pioneer’s Cosmetology program.
Her cosmetology classmates chose not to walk through the Medical Technology’s student-organized mock crash. Some students cried during the scenario.
“Yeah, it could be hard for some of them,” said Daniel Dornbirer, one of the school’s counselors who chose to be available in a separate room designated for students in need of emotional support.
Even still, the grisly mock crash scenario continued. Teachers and students said it was necessary — the students needed to see this.
“It gets the kids to think. That’s the whole purpose — like what could happen once they’re out driving,” said Dornbirer.
Communications Director Katie Stone agreed that the mock crash was necessary. “Our prom is a week away, so I think it’s good that they have this in their minds when they go out that night and drive.”
Seniors Marissa Greifenstine and Danielle Rucki planned the entire mock crash for a senior project in which they enrolled for a Health Occupations Students of America competition. They won the regional Community Awareness competition recently, qualifying them for the state competition at Toledo University on Tuesday.
“We’re one week away from prom. I’m hoping this stops teen drinking from happening that night,” Rucki said minutes before the last mock crash began Friday afternoon. Pioneer’s nearly 1000 students all had a chance to witness the scenario, with four time-slots available throughout the school day.
If the scripted mock crash scenario does well in Toledo next week, the seniors will have the chance to travel to Nashville, TN to compete on the national Community Awareness stage.
The seniors worked together since earlier in the school year to organize the event. They called the local police and fire departments, the hospital — they even got a Life Flight helicopter to join for the day.
The students began the mock crash by watching a student-made video in the school’s auditorium.
“Every 15 minutes someone dies from an alcohol related crash,” read the video, underscored with somber music. The video then cuts to a scene that depicts drunken prom attendees racing their cars. The scene outside displayed what happened next: a fatal crash.
Students lined the parking lot to watch a police officer arrest a drunk teen, wheel off injured passengers and transport someone in a Life Flight helicopter. Fake blood lined the windows of the crashed cars and beer cans littered the ground nearby.
The scenario grew in intensity as students filed through a backstage scene where doctors performed life-saving procedures on a bloodied crash victim.
“We changed that this year,” explained Greifenstine. The two prior years involved students witnessing a funeral of one of the crash victims. But the change in scenes did not take away from the students’ emotional responses.
School counselor Crystal Escalera, the other counselor made available to students during the mock crash, said she had three students come to her throughout the day. Dornbirer said he had two.
