Spring Valley student group turns adversity into action and garners national award
Glenwood Springs, CO (June 2012) – To celebrate Global Youth Traffic Safety Month® during May 2012, National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) launched the third annual YOUTH-Turn It Around Awards program to recognize and award cash prizes to youth organizations that utilized the YOUTH-Turn resource and turned adversity into action in their schools and communities.
Colorado Mountain College PEAK Performance of Glenwood Springs, CO, an organization of the BACCHUS Network, received the Runner-Up Prize of the college level YOUTH-Turn It Around Award in the amount of $1,000.00. Colorado Mountain College’s PEAK Performance organization chose to address the use of seat belts as their traffic safety adversity. The motivation to address this adversity and turn it into action was the tragedy of a four passenger car crash that occurred in October 2011. Three students survived with serious injuries, and unfortunately one student, Steph Jo Zgorzynski, did not survive the crash as a result of not wearing a seat belt.
PEAK Performance decided to create a seat belt awareness campaign called “Click It 4 Steph” and launch the campaign every two to three weeks to reach as many students and community members as possible. The team made signs to encourage safe driving and as students, faculty, and community members drove in and out of campus, they received full-size candy bars if they were wearing seatbelts and received dum-dum lollipops to those who were not. The team also passed out materials and free give-a-ways from the YOUTH-Turn toolkit.
Students and community members responded positively to the peer-led efforts, as Mark McCabe, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, stated: “ ‘Click It For Steph’ is an excellent example of how our students turned a tragic event into a respectful learning opportunity for the students as well as college personnel. PEAK Performance developed innovative strategies that not only changed behavior but ultimately saved lives. Their dedication to respectfully honoring a student’s memory is an inspiration to us all.”
In the U.S., more than 2,000 teens ages 15-20 die every year as a result of motor vehicle crashes. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death and injury among teens in this country. Crashes take more lives of our youth than alcohol, drugs, violence, and suicide combined. Too many teens are dying each year and most of these crashes are preventable. One crash and one youth lost is one too many.
Facing the adversity of a tragic crash often creates the desire or the need to do something, to somehow respond to what just happened. Communities need to be able to use the time afterwards to create change and prevent future tragic events and know where to turn in their own communities for help and assistance.
To assist youth and their communities in turning adverse situations into positive change, National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS), with funding from the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation and support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), offers a FREE online resource called YOUTH-Turn. YOUTH-Turn helps youth take a leading voice in their communities, showing that youth can be positive and effective leaders of change. The resource provides safe teen driver information and resources to help promote positive and educational actions to prevent teen traffic crashes.
In addition to providing facts and program ideas for youth to implement in their community and talk effectively to the media and other community officials, YOUTH-Turn also provides assistance with the following issues: seat belt use, underage drinking, passenger restrictions, and nighttime driving restrictions, as well as coping with the tragedy and guidelines to develop an action plan.
Community members: it’s time to work together with these teens and help YOUTH-Turn adversities into action. Through the YOUTH-Turn resource, National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) stand ready to support youth leaders in working with their peers and community leaders to create educational and sustainable projects. For more information or assistance, contact NOYS at info@noys.org.