Officer John Pejoski takes a teenager into custody as part of the annual Project Grim Reaper at Jackson Memorial High School. The project is intended to deliver a warning against drunken and distracted driving. PHOTO COURTESY OF JACKSON SCHOOL DISTRICT The shrouded face of death recently visited Jackson Memorial High School as a stern warning against drunken and distracted driving.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Jackson School District’s Project Grim Reaper gave students a somber visualization of what it would look like if a tragedy claimed their lives.
“This message is delivered in such a way that it stays with [the students], which is critical,” Assistant Principal Kyle Brunson said. “We don’t do it for just today or for next month. We do it so it stays with them for life.”
Rather than deliver a message that a drunken driver could be killed, Brunson said administrators want to teach students there are often unforeseen consequences to drunken and distracted driving.
“We teach [the students] it is not always the kid who might be a little reckless or a little wild who gets hurt,” he said. “In some cases, it is the least likely person who is killed or whose life is changed forever. We teach them death is final for everyone. And based on the reactions of the students, the message is getting through.”
Students portrayed victims of a drunkendriving accident, an individual who has been arrested or convicted, and the Grim Reaper.
At various times during the week, the Grim Reaper would enter a classroom and choose a “victim.” After that “victim” put on a black T-shirt, he or she was no longer able to interact with his or her peers — no talking, no tweeting, no texting and no Facebook conversations.
Student Brian Northrup said the total lack of interaction with his “dead” classmates simulated a loss.
“In this case, it’s people you go to school with whom you see every day — and then, all of the sudden, you can’t talk to them for a week,” he said. “It just hits so close to home, and it really gets through to everyone.”
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 11 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 20 reported driving while under the influence that year. For 16- and 17-year-olds, about 4 percent said they got behind the wheel while they believed they were drunk.
Students who portrayed an accused individual were arrested and taken from the school in handcuffs.
Jackson police officers John Pejoski and Colin Menafra led the students to a patrol car. When a student who had been “arrested” returned to school, his attire was an orange prison jumpsuit.
Pejoski, who is a school resource officer for the district, said Project Grim Reaper and projects such as Project Crash and Alive at 25 have helped recent graduates make better life decisions.
“They come back and tell us they have gotten themselves into situations where they had to really think to themselves, ‘Is this smart?’ or ‘Am I making a good decision here?’ And they tell us they remember the power of what they heard here,” the officer said. “That is an incredible feeling — to know all of this truly makes a difference.”
Project Grim Reaper culminated with an assembly run by students. The students were asked to devise a scenario that fit the theme of the week.
Northrup and Alana Coleman described a scenario in which a young couple was involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident. In the scenario, Coleman was killed and Northrup was sent to prison as a result of his actions.
Coleman said the scenario was designed to make teenagers think before they get behind the wheel while they are impaired.
“Every year, this is something people take very seriously. They know it is not a joke,” Coleman said.