Mansfield Motor Group (MMG) and Richland Source decided back in October to offer a brand new car or a $10,000 scholarship to a high school senior through the Mansfield Motor Group Student Citizen Program. This program is meant to encourage students to make healthy life choices and excel academically by rewarding responsible driving habits.
As a result, just over 200 Richland County high school seniors have enrolled in the program. So far, Mansfield Senior High has four seniors still in the running for receiving the scholarship or car: Hutch Blackstone, Marquez Cobb, Cody Grogg, and Jodi Gordon.
Before the program started, Gordon admitted she had a habit of texting and driving occasionally. In fact, she almost had a wreck when she was texting while driving her grandmother’s car. According to Gordon, this program has helped her break the habit.
Her advice in breaking the habit includes placing the phone somewhere that will prevent her from hearing the phone ring or vibrate. She recommends a purse or the passenger seat.
“I also have a best friend that hates it when I’m distracted. Whenever she’s in the car, she helps with holding me accountable,” she said.
The others do not struggle with texting and driving. They said they have always viewed it as a danger, and are willing to wait for a couple minutes before reading and responding to the text.
“Driving is such a privilege. You have to be cautious because you never know what’s going to happen,” said Cobb. For Cobb, the dangers of driving are real. Earlier in his life, he lost family members to traffic-related wrecks.
For the three senior boys, who share a handful of advanced placement and honors classes, texting and driving is out of the question. They realize that this life choice is not a popular, or a “cool” one. However, Some of them admitted to getting into arguments with friends who might not understand the real dangers in being distracted while driving.
According to a survey by American Automobile Association (AAA) of teen drivers, 46 percent of the teens text message while driving and 51 percent talk on cell phones while driving.
“I don’t really care about society’s approval,” said Grogg, to which the boys verbally agreed. Blackstone added, “I would rather have an argument with my friend about being a safe driver than having to tell his parents that he died in an accident while I was driving.”
All four students have Grade Point Averages well above 3.0, and plan on maintaining this throughout the year to stay eligible in the program. It was also a unanimous decision to accept keeping the scholarship money if they were to win.
The prize will be determined at the mock crash event in April 2014 at the Richland County Fair Grounds. For more information on this program, read Richland Source’s additional articles or read MMG’s guidelines.
“I would rather have an argument with my friend about being a safe driver than having to tell his parents that he died in an accident while I was driving,” said senior Hutch Blackstone.
