“Shattered Dreams” Director Trey Corley facilitated a mock car crash held on Tuesday, Oct. 12th in the parking lot followed by a memorial assembly on Wednesday, Oct. 13th. The “Shattered Dreams” program involves the dramatization of an alcohol-related crash on or near a high school campus, complete with fire, police and EMS response, emergency room treatment, family notifications, as well as the arrest and booking of the driver.

“Shattered Dreams” volunteers included local firefighters, policemen, paramedics, alumni, community members, and morgue attendants.

The program has combined this with “Every 15 Minutes” which was last performed six years ago, on campus, where a “Grim Reaper” comes to take a student out of the classroom every 15 minutes to represent a death occurring that often in real life because of drunk driving. “Every 15 Minutes” is a two-day program focusing on high school juniors and seniors challenging them to think about driving while drunk, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions. Along with an alcohol-related crash, it focuses on the impact that their decisions would have on family and friends.

Students who acted, in the dramatization, as the deceased where Kinsey Durham, Nicholas Duran, Savannah Solis, and Dakota Bonner while junior McKenzie Peery acted as the drunk driver.

“This whole thing had such an emotional atmosphere. It taught me the true consequences of how drinking and driving can break apart peoples’ lives,” Peery said. “Nobody wants to go to jail, but experiencing that showed me the scary reality of it all.”

Since the program was available to only juniors and seniors, “Shattered Dreams” would like to come back to Chapel Hill every two years to reach all high school students coming through.