The Key Club and the SAD46 Wellness Committee teamed together to pull off this event, which is a huge commitment with months of planning. The Key Club was approached over a year ago by Mayo Regional Hospital and asked to conduct the program at Dexter. The Key Club agreed and we approached the Wellness Committee for their help, The members of the Wellness Committee did immense work to help this event run smoothly.

Co-coordinator Emily Poland, Dave and Deb Fournier, Michelle Fisk, Ann Kondax and Susan Abel deserve a big thank you for their efforts. The other organizations that deserve our thanks are the Dexter Fire Department, Mayo Ambulance and the Dexter Police Department. There work in setting up the accident scene and applying the make-up, etc. was so important to the success of the event.

The event started on Wednesday, with the Grim Reaper (Jake Sherburne) and Dexter PD officer Jim Emerson traveling room to room every fifteen minutes to “take” a student from their peers. They stood while their obituary was read and then they were conducted to the stage, where they had their faces made into a “living dead” person by Alison Saunders and Emily Poland.

After changing into an Every 15 Minute T-shirt, the students were conducted back to their class, where they could not speak or interact with anyone for the rest of the day. Many found this hard to do with students trying to knock them out of their roles. By mid-morning there were living dead everywhere you turned. We threw a twist into the mix, as we had French teacher, Sarah Hooke, taken as a living dead. This caught many students by surprise. The 14 living dead signify the fact that every fifteen minutes someone dies from a drunk driving accident.

At 12:30 sharp, a 911 call came over the intercom at the high school, and students and staff were excused to go to the back entrance by the soccer field to witness the emergency response. (A mock accident was played out.)

Two vehicles had come together head-on, with three girls in one and two boys in another. Josh Stanhope, the Key Club past vice president, was our drunk driver and he was fitted with a device with fake vomit to eject. It looked very realistic. CJ Giles riding with him was injured and had an amazing make-up job. Josh was given a field sobriety test, “arrested”, cuffed and taken to Dexter PD.

More on DRHS’s “Every 15 minutes” next week.
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