Teen Alcohol Awareness

The Corpus Christi Youth Alcohol Awareness Coalition is a community collaboration of several local agencies and individuals with a common goal – to educate our youth on the dangers of drinking and driving. In order to reach that goal, we have been conducting a proactive prevention program called Shattered Dreams in local high schools for the past two years. Our coalition has a goal of reaching every school in Nueces County, and helping the surrounding counties bring this program to their schools. We are currently in the planning stages of our fourth event. Each event takes about four to five months to plan so we will be doing two schools a year.

Shattered Dreams is a two-day program created at the South Texas Injury Prevention and Research Center in San Antonio. It is an experiential program that teaches the students that the irresponsibility of drinking and driving can end all your dreams.

Shattered Dreams requires the active participation of students, parents, educators, and various organizations in the community. There are four major components in the program. The first is a dramatic reenactment at the school of a crash caused by a drunk driver. Four student participants are involved in the crash scene. The "drunk driver" is given a field sobriety test on the scene, taken to jail, and then to see a judge. The others victims of the crash “die.” One is pronounced “dead” at the scene, while two others are transported to local hospitals by ambulance, where they are treated in the emergency department and eventually “die” and their parents are notified.

The second part of the program involves the "Living Dead." The Living Dead are student participants who are pulled out of class every fifteen minutes by the Grim Reaper. Mock death notifications and obituaries are presented to their classmates by uniformed police officers. The participants’ faces are painted white and they are not allowed to communicate with anyone the rest of the day. They represent the people who die every fifteen minutes in the United States from an alcohol related car crash.

After school, the students start the third part of the program - the overnight retreat. At the retreat the students participate in activities ranging from team building to a presentation on the dangers of drinking and driving. They also write letters to loved ones that say everything they wish they would have said when they were alive.

The next morning is the assembly, the last part of the program. Student participants and their parents share their experiences from the previous day with the rest of the students at the school. Other speakers at the assembly include school officials, community members, and real victims of alcohol related crashes. Counseling is provided after the assembly, as well as the rest of the two-day event.

Contact Information about Shattered Dreams

Injury Prevention Program
(361) 694-6700 or call toll free (866) 886-5957
Fax (361) 851-6880 or email us at kyks@driscollchildrens.org.
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Teen Alcohol Awareness

Contact Information about Shattered Dreams

Injury Prevention Programs

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