Every 15 Minutes

Every Fifteen Minutes is an educational experience that reminds us all of the dangers associated with driving while impaired and texting. Working with multiple agencies and businesses over the course of a calendar year, our work culminated in an event held in April, 2015. For the students involved, this was immersive project-based learning. For the students at South, it is an experiential event to help them make good decisions and choices. The event was planned following the death of a South Anchorage student who was killed by a drunk driver while walking down the sidewalk with a friend who attended Service High School.

On April 9^th “Every 15 Minutes” (EFM) took place at South Anchorage High School. EFM symbolizes the unfortunate fact that during the 1980’s someone was killed in an alcohol related traffic collision every 15 minutes.

While the implementation of new laws and grassroots programs have helped bring the death rate down to 27 deaths due to DUI in the U.S. per day, this figure is still unacceptable. In Alaska, nearly 30% of under 21 driving fatalities are due to alcohol impairment.

Every 15 Minutes is typically a two-day program that challenges high school students to think about the consequences of drinking, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are involved.

The program seeks to provide students with a hard-hitting, realistic dramatization of the aftermath of a fatal alcohol-related car crash.

South chose to highlight the talents of the leadership skills of student government and peer mentorship classes by involving these students and classes in the planning and coordination of the event. In addition, the pre-filmed crash video is a demonstration of the talents and commitment of students in the electronic communications class. The incredible SAHS swing choir was amazing and South's own Malie Delgado, '12, Miss Alaska, showed the continuation of the talent from South's music program.