ALLENTOWN, Pa. — How do you get a group of teenagers to listen and pay attention? Make them feel like they are on a game show, of course.
That’s exactly what a local safety awareness group did Tuesday at its annual youth conference.
Lehigh Valley DUI/Highway Safety Task Force welcomed ThinkFast Interactive, an engaging team-building program, at this year’s event at Lehigh Valley Health Network-Mack Boulevard.
"Once a year, we like to try to bring students together and have them participate in things that might be of more interest to them in a way to get the key messages across to them about these kinds of choices that they're going to face in their lives.”Lehigh Valley DUI/Highway Safety Task Force Co-Chairman Brian Downs
"Once a year, we like to try to bring students together and have them participate in things that might be of more interest to them in a way to get the key messages across to them about these kinds of choices that they're going to face in their lives,” said task force Co-Chairman Brian Downs.
Downs said using the game show type strategy, complete with prizes, with the students helps keep them interested and participating in the learning process.
“A lot of questions that come up very quickly for the students and many of them are associated with things like drunken driving, driving under the influence, underage drinking, bullying," he said.
"So they learn the key messages about some of the things the choices that you make in your life, that can, you know, go bad or go well.”
'Better than being lectured'
"I prefer this kind of better than being lectured," said Kayra Gokce, an Emmaus High School senior.
“I like how the ThinkFast stuff is really interactive and it helps us learn a lot about driving and making safe decisions while we're driving."
"So I think it's really helpful and beneficial to everyone here.”
Gokce also is co-president of the high school’s Kid to Kid Program, for which health and wellness fitness teacher Jeannine Ross serves as advisor.
"I think having these opportunities within the community for them to be able to be highlighted and then to have these fun initiatives that they can take part in is something that's a bonus and rewarding for them. Because they're already making good choices and then they get to bring that knowledge and help other peers make good choices.”Kid to Kid Program Advisor Jeannine Ross
"We pretty much serve as peer mentors and also try to help kids, lead them down positive paths in order to avoid any destructive decisions," Ross said.
"Whether it's emotionally, mentally physically, all of them included.”
She chaperoned a group of students at the event.
"I think having these opportunities within the community for them to be able to be highlighted and then to have these fun initiatives that they can take part in is something that's a bonus and rewarding for them," Ross said.
"Because they're already making good choices and then they get to bring that knowledge and help other peers make good choices.”
'Even one is too many'
Downs said the hope is that the students will take the knowledge they learn about making good choices and pass it onto their peers.
Ross and Gokce both said the Emmaus Kid to Kid Program visits students in the middle school and they were eager to share Tuesday’s message with those children, as well.
“I feel like a lot of the information that the kids bring about from here, they get to then, kind of, disseminated throughout the district,” Ross said.
About 150 students from schools across the Lehigh Valley participated in the conference.
"We hope then, too, that not only did they get the message, but they take it back to some of their other peers who aren't part of their SADD [Students Against Destructive Decisions] or STARS groups."Lehigh Valley DUI/Highway Safety Task Force Co-Chairman Brian Downs
"We hope then, too, that not only did they get the message, but they take it back to some of their other peers who aren't part of their SADD [Students Against Destructive Decisions] or STARS groups," Downs said.
"And that they can maybe spread the message that way and hopefully keep more people safe and avoid tragedies. Even one is too many."
The students in attendance also had the opportunity to create a video ahead of time showing the consequences of good and bad decision making.
The group watched and judged those videos, with prizes being given out at the end.
Lehigh Valley DUI/Highway Safety Task Force is a community organization dedicated to promoting all aspects of highway safety throughout the Lehigh Valley.
