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Sam Rayburn students receive sobering teenage message

The alcohol related car accident resulting in the death of two Sam Rayburn High School students may have not been real—but the tears shed by their friends and families were.

The families and friends of Sam Rayburn senior Kris Ferrell and junior Mariana Martinez wept recently at mock memorial services for the students as they considered the thought of losing them to an accident that could have been prevented.

“We used to be a happy family of four, and now we’re an unhappy family of three,” said Martinez’s younger brother at the service. “I miss my sister and my best friend.”

The memorial service for Ferrell and Martinez was the second part of “Shattered Dreams,” an educational drinking and driving prevention program coordinated and presented at high schools statewide by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. This two-day comprehensive program held before prom or spring break brings to light the dangers associated with drinking and driving while showing young adults the consequences of their actions. The school held the event for the first time in 2006.

On the first day of the program, Ferrell and Martinez were made up as crash victims for the dramatic demonstration of a two-car, alcohol-related fatality accident that was staged near the school. Sounds of the accident, the call to 911, voices of law enforcement and emergency responders were played over the school’s public address system, signaling the juniors and seniors to assemble near the crash scene, which was realistic with Pasadena’s EMS, police, fire and funeral home responders enacting the rescue of Ferrell and Martinez.

Martinez and Ferrell were passengers of the vehicle hit by the drunk driver. Martinez was removed from the car and was taken immediately to Bayshore Hospital by Life-Flight where she later died, and Ferrell died at the scene of the accident.

“It’s hard to describe how it felt pretending to be dead,” Ferrell said. “It’s weird. But I did this because I wanted to show my friends that this can happen to anyone. Presenting it in a real-life situation will stick with them longer.”

Sam Rayburn junior Sarah Roelse saw the program as a freshman and said she knew she wanted to be a part of it as a junior. In this year’s event, Roelse was selected to play the role of the drunk driver and was arrested by Pasadena Police Sgt. Josh Bruegger at the scene. She was taken to the Pasadena police station, put in an orange jumpsuit, fingerprinted and had her mug shot taken.

“It wasn’t easy being the drunk driver because I knew how my friends and classmates would feel about me after learning that Mariana and Kris died in the accident,” Roelse said. “I just hope this shows my friends that they need to think before they make the decision to drink or to drink and drive. If this affects even just one person out of our entire student body, then we did our job. We did what we came to do.”

Senior Samantha Samuel was Roelse’s passenger and was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the accident. She also saw the program as a sophomore and said that she wanted her friends to feel how she felt when she watched it two years ago.

“We have to realize that actions have good and bad consequences and those consequences don’t only affect us but the people we love as well,” she said. “We have to pay close attention to the people we associate with. One bad decision can have life-changing results.”

To symbolize how many people are killed in a day from drunk driving accidents, a heartbeat sounded throughout the school every fifteen minutes signaling the Grim Reaper to pick students from class to become the “Living Dead.” The students chosen attended classes but were not allowed to converse with their friends or teachers. Guardian Angels assisted the Living Dead throughout the day.

Sam Rayburn teacher and project coordinator Jane Sidwell said she thinks it’s important to have a dramatic representation of what can happen when drinking is involved with driving.

“If lectures and statistics worked, Americans would not be faced with the drinking problem we have today,” she said. “Houston and Harris County lead the way in the unfortunate statistics of the most drinking related traffic fatalities. The program is about our students, their friends, their families and their classmates. They live in a visual world, so we need to show them exactly what can happen.”

And visuals are what the students got. Besides the realistic scene of the accident, a casket provided by Rosewood Funeral Home in Pasadena was carried in by Sam Rayburn football players for the memorial services of Ferrell and Martinez.

“When they see that casket, the students visualize someone they know lying in there, even if they only know them from passing them in the halls, and it becomes very real for them,” Sidwell said. “They can no longer think that something like this can’t happen to them.”

During the memorial services, the parents of Martinez and Ferrell also read letters they wrote to their children as though they were really gone.

“You could hear a pin drop as the students listened intently to these parents emotionally sharing their ‘memories’ of their son and daughter,” Sidwell said. “We think the collaboration of all these events really makes the kids stop and think, and we think they are getting the message.”

On the first day of the program, the accident victims, the Living Dead and the Guardian Angels attended an overnight retreat at Bayshore Medical Center where they participated in team building activities as well as spoke with doctors who treat victims of drunk driving. The students also visited the Pasadena Police Academy and attempted to drive a golf cart through a course while wearing goggles that portrayed the visual impairment one would have if under the influence of alcohol.

“The activities helped to build relationships and get a point across at the same time,” said Lori Ford, Sam Rayburn’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) sponsor who also helped with fundraising for the project. “The students were allowed and encouraged to share experiences and ask questions. It was evident that students began the connection of the effects of their decisions in life on themselves and others.”

Sidwell said she hopes all high schools present “Shattered Dreams” for their students because it is a great way for students to see the lifelong trauma wrong decisions can have on themselves, family, friends and their community.

“We hope the students understand that happiness can not be found in a bottle,” Sidwell said. “We also hope to empower them to understand how strong and resourceful they are and to develop strong dreams and goals for the future. Once they have a plan they are confident in and goals to work toward, they are less likely to be sidetracked with harmful activities such as binge drinking for ‘fun.’”