This past Wednesday, students and staff attended P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. Each year, more than 6,000 area high school sophomores attend the annual program hosted by the Trauma Center at Theda Clark Medical Center and funded by the Theda Clark Medical Center Foundation. For teen drivers, alcohol, speeding and distracted driving are major factors in car crashes and deaths. The P.A.R.T.Y. at the P.A.C. program is a reality-based education program for high school sophomores that aims to empower students to make safe choices by shedding light on the dangers of risk-taking behaviors, their often life-changing outcomes, and the importance of personal responsibility.
The program skillfully wove first-hand accounts with audio-visual and live dramatic presentations driving home the importance of safe driving. Particularly memorable were stories told by a woman who drove with an iced-over windshield and the man she hit and pinned against a garbage truck. Kevin Wilkinson, Wisconsin Academy’s own dean of men, spoke several times, tying the accounts together into one powerful narrative.
