Archive: Around Town

May is prom season, and typically prom means both wholesome fun and the kind that has the potential to be harmful.  School officials and Lansing parents are proactive in planning for the event.  This year's after-prom party included laser tag, and took place in the high school, eliminating one piece of driving.  Each year Lansing students are also proactive in illustrating to their classmates the consequences of making ill-conceived, destructive decisions.  It seems to work.

"I always like to say no statistics are the best SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) statistics," says SADD advisor Kevin Wyszkowski.  "We've been proud to have that for the past ten years."

SADD is probably best known for the realistic car crash enactments it has staged for Lansing students.  But the organization doesn't do that every year, preferring to mix up the presentations to make a more lasting impression.  This year the group started with Grim Reaper day, then followed that with a guest speaker who lost three of his best friends in an auto accident in which he was driving drunk.

Students appeared in classes as if they were dead on Grim Reaper Day.  They wore black T-shirts and dressed in dark clothing.  They were not allowed to speak, serving as a reminder of lost friends.  They attend classes with their friends, but the friends can't talk to them because they are supposedly dead.

"This year we came up with people who fell asleep at the wheel, were driving drunk, or killed by a drunk driver," says Lansing SADD President Kathleen Kelly.  "We came up with different scenarios to show how people die.  We're trying to stop as much of it as we can, especially on prom weekend.  They are there with their friends, but they're not allowed to talk or communicate in any way.  The teachers respect that and try not to call on them throughout the day unless necessary.  It gives them a feel of 'this is what it would feel like to lose my friend."

Kelly says she thinks some students get it, and others can't get past the fact that it's an enactment.  For those who do get it, and for those who are part of the enactment, it's hard.

"It was probably one of the hardest things in my life," Kelly says.  "My friends are my lifeline.  Some of them don't really understand what's going on, so they try to ask you questions.  But you can't answer them, which is ten times harder."


The next day a speaker told high school students his real-life chilling story about a spring break incident in which he ended up killing his three best friends while driving drunk.  The story wasn't embellished, and the stark reality of the incident and the consequences he suffered spoke for themselves.  Lansing students said he made a powerful impact on them.

The speaker was recommended to Wyszkowski by graduate CJ Griffen, who heard him speak at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3).

"I've seen him twice in college, and I wanted to see the reaction from high school students," Griffen says.  "I thought they got the same message as I did.  It hits me every time."

SADD was orginally 'Students Against Drunk Driving,' but with the onset of other distractions and poor life decisions the 'DD' was changed to 'Destructive Secisions.'  80% of all accidents are caused by drivers who are distracted by something.  33% are caused by drunk drivers.

Wyszkowski says that funding for the events came from SADD, Lansing PTSO, Tompkins County Stop DWI, Lansing High School Student Council Organization, and the Lansing Faculty Association. 

"They all contributed money to make it affordable for him to come spread his message," he says.  "You really can't put a price on a life."

Superintendent Stephen Grimm credits Principal Eric Hartz, parents, and students for a successful and safe prom this year.

"The people here make it look so easy," he says.  "The level of excellence that is associated with it is beyond what anyone could think of.  You have to have those parents that know what to do and want to do it.  The other interesting ingredient is that you have to have kids that see value in doing it.  There were 215 at the prom, so you had almost 100% attendance.  That's a great statement about the kids in this district, and the parents who continue to provide an outstanding quality to the event."

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