Students got a glimpse at the consequences of their decisions earlier this month.
Juniors and seniors from Perryville, St. Vincent and Saxony Lutheran High Schools participated in the Junior/Senior Conference at the Perry Park Center on Tuesday.
The event has been showing the students the consequences of drinking and driving since 1998, but returned for the first time since 2019 because of COVID-19.
“There was a return to a bit of normalcy,” Perry County Task Force Director Brandie Mantz said.
The event is well known for its docu-drama which depicts a mock car accident, which takes place to showcase what can happen when a person makes a bad decision when getting behind the wheel when they shouldn’t.
“It started out in the early years focusing on drinking and driving,” Mantz said. “It has evolved to include driving under the influence of other substances.”
However, Mantz said that the event also focuses on the dangers of distracted driving over the last few years, as well.
“Everyone is able to have a cell phone in their hand,” she said. “A person can be also be easily distracted by other kids in the car or the radio, or GPS system in cars. Police have really seen an increase in accidents thanks to distracted driving. These accidents can really happen at any time.”
The event takes place around the time of high school proms and graduations because that is when the students begin to think about their futures ahead of them. Mantz said the event is focused on students making the best and healthiest choices for themselves.
“Students are graduating so they are going to start whatever their futures may be,” she said. “Students start to get excited and they don’t think about the things that could happen.”
The docu-drama is really the main event of the Junior/Senior Conference, however the event quickly added presentations to the event, so that the students could hear first-hand accounts of the consequences of bad decisions.
This year, members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Perryville Fire Chief Jeremy Triller.
“Usually the speakers are someone who caused an accident or they have lost someone or been affected personally,” Mantz said.
Mantz looks forward to the event each year, even though the conference has such a grim nature.
“We love seeing the students out here and hopefully the conference affected them in a positive way,” she said. “That is the whole point of the event.”
