Every 15 minutes

The Morning of Tuesday March 24, 2009 Taking Cecelia to school. This was the start of the Every 15 minutes Program. Cecelia and 34 other students were selected to be victims of drunk driving accidents and that morning a Police officer and the Grim Reaper came to each of their classes and pulled them out of their class. They layed a rose on their desk and reportedly read their obituary. A Headstone was placed with their name and they participated in an reinactment of a drunk driving accident. They were sequestered off later that day to a retreat and they had speakers and games that were related to the program. Later that evening they were then instructed to write a letter to their parents as if they had died. Very intense. The same evening us parents had our own retreat meeting where we listened to two mothers who had lost their students from a DUI accident. I thought that I was pretty strong and not be so affected. But when those mothers spoke and gave the details from the start to the end of their experience, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience. It was so emotional. We inturn had to write a letter to our children as if they had died. I had Dave write most of it. It was very hard. The next day, Wednesday was the most emotional. We had to sit through 2 assemblies going through the whole program from watching the kids lay their rose on a coffin and then listening to a man who was a drunk driver and how he was affected, completeley disabled and how his life has changed, from one of the coaches at El Dorado and his brother getting killed last year. But the most intense part of the program was the 5 students who read their letters to their parents and their parents reading their letters to the children. All in all, if no one else was effected, I think the 35 students were. I hope that this program continues thanks to all the Law Enforcement, Fire fighters, nurses, Student Faculty, School Administraters and everyone who contributed to this program. It was well worth it. I'm so thankful at the end of the day we could all go home, children included. It just makes you appreciate each other more and more.