Prom poses many difficult decisions for high school students that go beyond what shoes to wear with what dress or what girl the guy should ask for the perfect prom date.

Unfortunately for today’s teens, this time of celebration has also become a time when they are faced with the temptation of making alcohol part of the post-prom festivities.

To ensure its students are educated about the dangers of underage drinking and drinking and driving before their prom on May 17, Sam Rayburn High School is holding its bi-annual “Shattered Dreams” event on May 12 and 13.

“Shattered Dreams” is 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 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 Monday, May 12, a dramatic demonstration of a two-car, alcohol-related fatality accident will be staged near the school at the corner of Cherrybrook and Burke around 8 a.m. Sounds of the accident, the call to 911, voices of law enforcement and emergency responders will be played over the school’s public address system, signaling the juniors and seniors to assemble near the crash scene.

The scene will be realistic with Pasadena’s EMS, police, fire and funeral home responders enacting the rescue of student volunteers who are made up as crash victims and the mock arrest of the drunk driver. The Jaws of Life will be used to save the volunteer victims from one vehicle while Life-Flight will mock-land to rush another volunteer victim to the hospital. All activities will be as realistic as possible while ensuring the safety of all participants.

“We believe it is necessary to have Shattered Dreams right before prom because the images of the mock crash and memorial will be in the students’ minds as they make their own decisions on prom night,” said project co-coordinator and special education teacher Jennifer Edwards. “We want our students to stop and think about how their actions carry consequences beyond themselves.”

To symbolize how many people are killed in a day from drunk driving accidents, a heartbeat will sound throughout the school every fifteen minutes signaling the Grim Reaper to pick students from class to become the “Living Dead.” The students chosen will attend classes but are not allowed to converse with their friends or teachers. They will have Guardian Angels to assist them from class to class. The accident victims, the Living Dead and the Guardian Angels will all attend a retreat at Bayshore Medical Center on Monday night to participate in team building activities as well as speak with doctors who treat victims of drunk driving.

On Tuesday, May 13, mock memorial services with coffins provided by Rosewood Funeral Home will be held for the student volunteers who died in the staged car accident. Students and parents will read eulogies and letters written to the students who died.

“This is a very in-depth look at alcohol and drugs and the role both play in a teenager’s decision,” said Edwards. “It shows our students what life would be like for them not to see and speak to their friends for a day. When they hear the heartbeat throughout the day and know that someone else is dying due to an alcohol-related accident and hear the memorial speakers, they really stop and listen because it is coming from their peers.”