The blight of drunk driving on teenagers and the country as a whole is quite clear at Granite Bay High School.

  With the Every 15 Minutes program reminding students of the dangers of driving under the influence every two years, it’s hard to forget the damage that driving under the influence does to communities across the country.

  However, in this era of ubiquitous technology, accidents because of distracted driving are on the rise. In 2016, distracted driving took the lives of 3,450 people, and 391,000 people were injured in distracted-driving accidents in 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

  The Sports and Entertainment Marketing class at GBHS participated in and won the Teen Safe Driving Campaign – a competition seeking to bring greater awareness to the issue.

  “In 2013, the Safety Center of Sacramento, which works with the Allstate Foundation on the Safe Driving Campaign throughout the entire state, sent me an email, and I thought it would be a hands-on project for my marketing class,” business teacher Jeanne Sampson said. “In our department, we try to apply things instead of just learning them academically.”

  One of the most important factors for Sampson was making sure the project was student-led.

  “Everything was about the students driving the program,” Sampson said. “It’s a four-week competition and each week we had activities to do, so I might show them an idea, but I let each group take it and run with it.”

  The class performed a range of tasks for the competition.

  “The class split up into many groups, one making posters, one contacting safe driving officials, one made videos and others looked to start a social media movement,” senior Jake McKillop said.

  For McKillop, the program had a deeper personal meaning because of his own personal experience.

  “The campaign mattered to me because I had a good friend of mine end up in a coma in a driving-related incident,” McKillop said. “Seeing that ordeal transpire really was eye opening to potential hazards of driving that most people sweep under the rug.”

 Another student who took the message of the program to heart was junior Emma Wittich.

  “I think some people only did the project because it was a class assignment, but others really took it to heart,” Wittich said. “I usually wouldn’t go for any higher positions, but I thought this would be a good project to go for, and I’m glad I did.”

  Wittich worked on two separate projects, each primarily done online.

  “I worked on the Snapchat program where we had to take as many pictures on Snapchat with people as possible and hashtag the safe driving campaign and the ‘They Say’ program that was primarily on Instagram,” Wittich said.

  Wittich got to spread awareness to others, but she also gained a greater understanding of the problem for herself.

  “People are aware that accidents happen, but most don’t really think about the effects or how common it really is because of distracted driving,” Wittich said. “It was good to participate in the campaign before I got my license because it was kind of a reminder even before I could develop any bad habits.”

  The class had to work together effectively in order to win the competition.

  “Our class really worked well together in that our teams were efficient,” McKillop said. “There was a lot of teamwork that allowed for objectives and goals to be met. A lot of communication and debate allowed for the overall project to go successfully.”

  The hard work of the class paid off in a variety of victories in contest events, an overall program victory and a bounty of prizes.

  “We won $1,000 for the business department, a pizza party, various gift cards for students and a $500 bonus for winning the roadmap competition (for performing tasks outside of the set guidelines of the competition),” Sampson said.

  The prizes helped reinforce the rewarding experience for the students.

  “It was pretty cool to see that we won,” McKillop said. “It’s always nice to be awarded in competition, and given that our class worked on the campaign for at least a month, it was nice to see our efforts bear some fruit.”

  After five years, Sampson continues to participate in the competition because she continues to see benefits delivered to her students.

  “The program makes the kids think outside of the box,” Sampson said. “They weren’t always comfortable with it, but overall I think they finally got it and ended up being proud of themselves.”