Brandywine Heights, Kutztown and Fleetwood school districts are competing in Celebrate My Drive that could earn their district grants and a concert by Kelly Clarkson.
State Farm Insurance Agent Steve Drasher in Kutztown joined with hundreds of other agents across the nation, promoting State Farm Insurance’s Celebrate My Drive safe teen driving campaign Oct. 18 to 26.
‘Celebrate My Drive is a community awareness campaign around safe teen driving and the celebration that we all remember from getting our driver’s license,’ said Drasher.
The message State Farm wants to convey is for younger drivers to have intentional focus on driving and to remove the distractions that can not only be a hazard for them and their passengers but for every other person on the road, said Drasher.
‘What we’re trying to do is build a fun awareness campaign around a safe driving theme that will create a life time of better driving habits from our students, giving away t-shirts, wrist bands, key chains, backpacks, lip balm…’ said Drasher. ‘Just things that when they look down and see it, they thing, ‘Oh, yeah. Celebrate My Drive.’
Fleetwood Mayor Tammy Gore, who is also a mother of two and executive director of the Northeast Berks Chamber of Commerce, said this was the first time she received a request from the State Association of Mayors asking mayors to promote a program from a company.
‘This is about safe driving, it’s about the thrill of getting your driver’s license.. but with that thrill comes a great responsibility,’ said Gore. ‘The theme is two hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road.’
Anyone age 14 or older can log on to celebratemydrive.com, select their high school and pledge to drive safely. Each pledge counts as one vote for the school. Each of the school districts are competing against other registered high schools across the U.S. and Canada for the chance to win grants and a Kelly Clarkson concert.
‘This is a serious subject but it’s nice to have it in a fun way,’ said Gore.
Administration, staff and Student Council members at the three districts have been wearing red t-shirts with the Celebrate My Drive logo. Voting areas have been set up for voting during lunch periods. Some even handed out treats.
‘Brandywine is getting the Celebrate My Drive word out and having fun while making safe driving the focus of the school,’ said Drasher. ‘Through lunch (Monday) they had over 4,100 votes and were ranked at #15 nationally in Celebrate My Drive!’
Each day of the event Brandywine set up laptops in the cafeteria for voting. On Monday any student who voted got a small ‘trick or treat’ snack. Tuesday they receive a wristband. Other raffle items will follow the rest of the week, said Drasher.
Wearing her red Celebrate My Drive t-shirt, Fleetwood Student Council member Aubree Kilp talked about the safe driving campaing.
‘It’s a way to raise awareness… to give them reasons to be good drivers,’ said Kilp, a Fleetwood freshman. ‘And show exactly what they need to do to become a good driver. And you don’t even have to be able to drive yet.’
‘We haven’t even been behind the wheel yet but we realize that all of the different terrible things that do happen in the world, we don’t want those to happen to us or anybody we know or anybody in general,’ said Kilp. ‘So to be able to spread awareness for this is the best way to do it, to Celebrate My Drive.’
Fleetwood High School Interim Principal Linda Misterkiewicz would like students to realize how important it is to follow safety practices when driving, such as no talking on the phone, no texting and keep both hands on the wheel, and eyes on the road.
‘I just want them to be safe,’ said Misterkiewicz, noting that one of the questions on the quiz is that 50 percent of teen deaths is due to automobile crashes.
‘Teens need to focus when they get into a car. There are many distractions around them. They need to know that they’re not the only person on the road,’ said Fleetwood Assistant Superintendent Amaal Awadalla who’s teen son will be getting his driver’s permit soon. ‘Remove the distractions from within the car, the loud music, the cell phones, the peers in the car with them.’
This is the lesson she hopes students walk away with as they participate in Celebrate My Drive and compete for grants and that Kelly Clarkson concert.
‘While we’re getting them pumped up to get excited about the competition, they’re not realizing they’re learning which is being a safe driver,’ said Awadalla. ‘The big picture is the safety behind it.’
Brandywine Heights Superintendent Andrew Potteiger loves the excitement which Celebrate My Drive has created.
‘The students are excited about the incentives and programing which State Farm has developed with this initiative. More importantly, we are creating a conscientious awareness of safe driving,’ Potteiger wrote to The Patriot. ‘The concept behind this safety awareness is two hands on the wheel and two eyes on the road. With the numerous distractions which tempt all drivers, it is important to create positive safe habits of driving when our younger drivers are starting out.’
The message Potteiger wants to send to students is to, ‘Enjoy the privilege to drive – it is exciting and rewarding but always remember the enormous responsibility you are taking for yourself, your passengers and other drivers and pedestrians.’
Potteiger said State Farm created an online voting campaign which allows school districts to compete for up to 50 grants for safe driving.
‘The students vote for their school but only after they take a safe driving quiz,’ said Potteiger. ‘The connection of online interactive involvement with safe driving questions is a wonderful motivating connection.’
More than 150 Pennsylvania schools have registered to commit safe driving pledges during National Teen Driver Safety Week Oct. 18 to 26.
‘Research has shown it will take the involvement of entire communities to keep teens safer on the road,’ writes Drasher in a release. ‘Everyone needs to play a role – parents need to monitor their teens’ driving practices more closely, teens must obey driving laws and be considerate passengers, and all states must enact and enforce strong graduated driver licensing laws for new drivers.’
He encourages area residents to vote for Fleetwood High School, Brandywine Heights High School and Kutztown High School to win prizes by committing to be safe drivers once daily until Oct. 26 at http://www.celebratemydrive.com/. The top 100 high schools with the most safe driving commitments will be awarded grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. The top two schools will win a grand prize of a private concert by Grammy Award winner Kelly Clarkson.