Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Students create positive prom messages
Downingtown students create prom messages to deter impaired driving
Students wrote and illustrated messages to deter impaired driving for the “Positive Prom Message” contest.
EAST CALN >> Prom is a night to remember, one that could include glamour or a nightmare.
Victoria Pan, a senior at Downingtown East High School, earned the grand prize in the Positive Prom Message contest. She said that people say that prom is one of the best nights of one’s life, and yet she said some people consume alcohol or use drugs and could suffer from negative side effects, even death.
“I wanted to capture that glamour and that nightmare that could take place,” Pan said.
Pan drew a picture of a girl in a prom dress with a spilled glass of wine and an overturned wrecked car. She wrote on it, “Don’t let your best night become your last night. Impaired driving, underage drinking, marijuana and drug use destroys lives.”
Chester County AVOID (Advocates for Victims of Impaired Driving), the Crime Victims’ Center (CVC) of Chester County and the Downingtown Area Communities That Care coalition hosted the contest among Downingtown Area School District seniors and juniors.
Students from Downingtown West High School, Downingtown East High School and Downingtown STEM Academy were eligible to enter the contest with a focus on creating messages of deterring impaired driving. The submissions were prom-related messages or alternatives to impaired driving.
Pan entered in the contest this year because she wanted to help bring awareness to the community and to participate in a “program to help possibly save lives.” She said that she knows that underage drinking and drug use are an issue for some of her peers and other kids in her age group.
Downingtown East senior Gabriella Chindemi used a pun in her entry which states, “Prom: remember the night and not the mourning after.” STEM Academy senior winner Jasmine Ferrence had pieces of broken glass on her entry that said, “What you risked because you didn’t stay sober.” It listed life choices around each piece of glass and it said “imagine your life shattered.”
The winning slogans will be printed on the back of the prom tickets and at post-prom activities for the respective school.
Laura Obenski, of Chester County AVOID, said the event occurred during National Crime Victims’ Rights week. She said the partnership between AVOID and CVC shares an effort to reduce impaired driving from being socially accepted, and to prevent such crimes from occurring. She said that it is unacceptable that two out of three people will be impacted by a drunk driver.
“The anniversaries of traumatic events and the legal process that follow overshadows the celebration of birthdays, graduations, holidays and time that should be spent together,” Obenski said.
State Rep. Becky Corbin, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said she will “work to do whatever we can to stop this behavior.”
“There are too many lives being lost,” said Corbin, R-155, of East Brandywine, “too many families being devastated.”
Community leaders, school district representatives, elected officials and others voted on the entries at the school district administration building. Maggie Hannagan, a member of PA PAID (Pennsylvania Parents Against Impaired Driving), voted.
The Hannagan family, of Downingtown, traveled together when their vehicle was hit by a drunk driver in 2015. Miles, 19, and Charlotte, 16, were killed instantly in the crash on Route 100 in Uwchlan. Maggie and her husband Paul were both injured.
In 2015, 364 people were killed by impaired driver in Pennsylvania. Of those, 12 crashes occurred in Chester County.
Debby and Ken Iwaenic, who are also members of PA PAID, voted. Their son, Pennsylvania State Trooper Kenton Iwaniec, was killed in 2008 by a drunk driver, near the Avondale Barracks, where he served.
Statistics state that “every 51 minutes someone in the U.S. dies from a drunk driving crash.”
First Assistant District Attorney Michael Noone commended those involved in the Downingtown programs for their efforts to help save lives.
Chester County AVOID was created in 2015 to address the devastating effects of impaired driving. According to its mission statement, the members want to “influence policy surrounding the elements of impaired driving, support victim advocacy efforts, and promote local law enforcement endeavors while keeping the challenges of combating a social acceptability of impaired driving at the forefront of discussion within the community.”