Boyertown >> Boyertown Area High School junior Ryan Holzman, 16, understands the dangers of texting and driving.
His essay “It Can Wait: The new ‘Designated Driver’ trend” was selected from a number of entries to represent the Pottstown region as a finalist in the statewide It Can Wait editorial contest.
The contest, sponsored by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, The Mercury and AT&T, helps raise awareness about the dangers of texting while driving. Open to all public or private high school students in grades 9-12 across Pennsylvania, the contest provided an opportunity for students to win a $500 prize for a column or editorial that best answers the question, “Why is it important to take the ‘It Can Wait’ pledge to never text and drive?”
Each finalist, like Ryan, will receive a $50 gift card for their participation and will be put in the running for the grand prize. The statewide winner will be announced March 13. The winner(s) will be honored April 1, in conjunction with America East and the student Keystone Press Awards luncheon.
If selected, Ryan said he will use the money to help pay for his first trip outside the U.S. to Austria and the Czech Republic.
“It’s very exciting,” he said when asked how it felt to be selected as a finalist. “The Boyertown Senior High Performing Arts group is travelling to Europe over Easter break, so if I win the money it will be a big contribution to that.”
It was Ryan’s grandmother who first made him aware of the essay contest, he said. She’d read a news report about a jogger who’d been killed by a texting driver and was horrified by the story. She felt more awareness of this growing issue needed to be raised and the essay contest seemed like the perfect way to help spread the message.
“It’s a very important issue,” Ryan said. “When you take the pledge, you’re not only helping to save lives, you’re spreading positive peer pressure.”
Ryan’s essay incorporated leading research from the VA Tech Transportation Institute, the National Highway Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to prove that “‘LOL’ turns into ‘RIP’ more and more every day” for distracted texters.
While still studying to get his driver’s permit, Ryan said you don’t need experience behind the wheel to understand the importance of pledging not to text and drive.
“If every person takes the pledge,” Ryan said, “it makes that much more of a difference.”
Runners up in the contests were: Christina Fluharty, Courtney Smith and Darcy Harris of Owen J. Roberts High School; Olivia Lopez of Pottsgrove High School and Kelly Slattery of Daniel Boone High School.
