When it comes to drinking and driving accidents, teens are grossly overrepresented, and almost all incidents are preventable.
It's a point eight McRoberts Grade 12 students wanted to hammer home for the BCAA's third annual Dry Grad Video Challenge.
Their efforts have paid off as Corbin Pawer, Matias McDonald, Ben Koonar, Danielle Hartley, Manely Farhangdoust, Maya Revill, Nabeel Jilani and Jeremy Johal bagged the top award, winning $4,000 to help with their graduation celebrations.
"We thought it'd be a good idea to represent the grad class in a positive way and have fun while raising awareness for an important issue," said McRoberts student Corbin, 17.
The video takes place at a funeral, where friends remember the events leading up to the death through a series of flashbacks. As the story goes, a friend drove to a house party with the intention of not drinking, but is easily pressured into doing so.
"We wanted to show the consequences, but also make it clear that these incidents are completely prevent-able," said Corbin. "It hadn't been a problem with us, but we've heard a lot of instances within the community, so it's still something that we can talk about personally."
The BCAA challenged high schools across B.C. and Yukon to make short videos with the simple message: don't drink and drive. Videos were judged for the clarity of this message as well as for quality.
Besides its clarity, what the McRoberts students' video highlights is how easily teens are swayed by their peers.
As for the McRoberts group, they haven't packed away their equipment just yet. The experience helped them realize the power of video in the age of social media.
"It's a good way to reach a large audience," said Corbin, who has applied for business school in the fall. "Because of our age, this is a very relevant topic and I think we could pursue it deeper."
