MOCK CAR CRASH IMPACTS STUDENTS

Mock crash in vivid detail gets Avonworth students talking

Avonworth High School students saw a frighteningly realistic portrayal of the aftermath of a deadly car crash — complete with an ambulance, medical helicopter and participation by a funeral home.

The staged event Monday was organized by three students who are volunteer firefighters and who want their fellow classmates to know what can happen if they choose to drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol.

“I see traumatic accidents all the time, and kids have to understand that they don’t affect just one person — it’s all their family members and their friends and even their community,” said Sean Boaks, who staged the event with fellow students Michael Kohl and Jen Weiss. The three ninth-graders serve as volunteer firefighters for Emsworth on weekends.

“Watching students feel the impact of the mock accident and funeral was profound,” school Principal Keera Dwulit said after the event, which included a video made by the three students.

“The sounds, radio transmissions and emergency response were all too real. Our student actors made it look and feel real; they are extraordinary and deserve recognition,” the principal said.

The school had planned to hold a mock crash last school year, Mrs. Dwulit said, but then 10th-grader Hannah Milbert died in a fire in January at her Ohio Township home. “We thought it was too much for the students,” Mrs. Dwulit said.

Sean, Michael and Jen didn’t want to wait for prom to stage the event.

“They pointed out that accidents happen all the time, and it’s never going to be easy,” Mrs. Dwulit said. The three also are studying broadcasting, and they had the opportunity to submit a video about the mock crash to a national competition that had a December deadline.

Avonworth hasn’t staged a mock crash for five years. Every time the school plans to hold one, a student dies, and the portrayal is canceled, Mrs. Dwulit said.

“We just had another [student death] two weeks ago,” she said of Hunter Strang, 18, who died

Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette photos Students at Avonworth High School watch rescue workers extract “victims” from a mock automobile crash Monday in the parking lot of the school in Ohio Township. The portrayal was designed to deter students from getting behind the wheel while under the...

Students at Avonworth High School observe the activity of rescue workers at the scene of a mock car crash Monday in the school’s parking lot.