Polk County Teens get taught a big lesson on being responsible in the 2016 Teen Maze
Choose wrong and you end up in the emergency room... at eternal rest.. or a long time asking why this happened in prison.
Polk County’s annual Teen Maze seeks to provide valuable lessons to local youth
A story: On a weekend night in Polk County, a few high school friends are driving around, searching for fun as teenagers usually do when they are given the keys to a car and a degree of freedom.
The group ends up at a party, and drinks, dancing and even trying a few hits of the joint being passed around become part of the night's entertainment. Then before anyone knows it, the clock strikes midnight and suddenly it's time for everyone to go home.
This is the moment that local public safety officials and concerned citizens are trying to intervene in the lives of teens at Cedartown and Rockmart High School, and remind them of the hard lessons of life through the latest installment of the Polk County Teen Maze.
The annual two-day event at the Polk-Haralson Christian Life Center saw ninth graders from both high schools in the county walk through the various scenes of life that they could face should they take a wrong turn, such as driving drunk or having unprotected sex.
During a scene re-enacting what happens to people taken to the hospital following a car wreck, it was Lynn Herman's job to remind students of the consequences they face when they choose to drink and drive.
"The point is, you have a wonderful life to live but the decisions you make daily can change your life," said Herman, a Georgia Highlands College nursing instructor who also spent years working in an emergency room.
She told students, for instance, to make the smart move and call their parents and face the punishment of drinking or taking drugs while they aren't supposed to be instead of ending up in the hospital or the grave.
"Your parents will respect you highly for stopping a bad situation rather than making it worse," she said. "And isn't it better to be grounded for a few weeks than to be dead?"
Students didn't start off hearing that message from Herman. Throughout a series of stations designed to educate youth on the dangers facing today's teens, Polk County's ninth graders who participated were put into situations they are likely to encounter.
For instance, students were made to put on goggles designed to give young drivers an idea of what it was like to be impaired behind the wheel, then given a course to drive on a golf cart.
Or they were made to watch scenes of devastation, like a simulated car wreck where Polk County Sheriff Office Chief Deputy Jonathan Blackmon narrated events while students watched on the sidelines.
He was just as adament with students about not getting behind the wheel while impaired, but also reminded them to also put down the cell phones and grab the steering wheel at 10 and 2.
"I want to home at night, and I want you to go home at night," he said. "The more technology we have in our vehicles, the more problems and distractions we'll have while behind the wheel. And because I want you to get home without getting in a wreck, I want you to remember if you have to send a text or make a call, pull over somewhere safe and take care of it, then get back on the road."
Blackmon said that students who don't learn this lesson are likely to end up in wrecks, which he has his own history of personal tragedy, having lost two family members in automobile crashes over the years.
"I don't want you guys to end up as a statistic," Blackmon said.
He has reason to worry.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, they reported that in in 2014 some 2,270 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed. Another 221,313 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.
That means that six teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries.
The CDC also reported that in 2013, young people ages 15 to 19 represented only 7 percent of the U.S. population, but accounted for 11 percent - or $10 billion - of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries.
Making an impact against those figures is the job of people like Polk Family Connection's Rhonda Heuer, who helps organize the annual Teen Maze. To show that there has been some improvement in getting to youth before they make bad decisions that might one day result in their being one of the above statistics, she gives each ninth grader who participates a survey to take following their visit to the Polk-Haralson Christian Life Center.
Initial results provided by Heuer following the first day of the Teen Maze on Nov. 1 showed that students were more likely to pay attention to the consequences of distracted driving and of drug and alcohol abuse by 96 and 97 percent of the 100 surveys collected.
However, it only showed that some 34 percent expected to talk about the issues with peers, and 56 percent with adults. Some 10 percent said they wouldn't discuss what they learned with anyone.
The survey also showed 94 percent would reccommend the experience to others.
Whether students will take the lessons from Polk County's Teen Maze to heart remains to be seen, but local officials will continue to try to and push for youth to learn that even the simplest choices can bring disastrous results if they aren't careful.