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Elsewhere in this issue of The Argus is an article asking area
residents and businesses to support Project Prom 2008, which is the
post prom party to be held following Caledonia Area High School’s
junior/senior prom.
“Why should I get involved in something like that?” you may ask. “We
didn’t have anything like that when I was in high school. Isn’t this
just one more way to lavish more on a bunch of kids who already have
much more than we had 20, 30, or 40 years ago when we were in high
school?”
The answer to those questions is- it’s a matter of life and death…more
precisely keeping the juniors and seniors attending the upcoming high
school prom from being involved in a serious or fatal accident.
Here are some sobering facts to consider:
•Teens are in five times as many fatal vehicle crashes as adults.
•More than 3,500 teens are killed each year in the U.S. in auto accidents.
•Nearly 8,000 teens are involved in fatal accident each year.
•More than 300,000 teens are injured in auto accidents in the U.S. each year.
For high school students everywhere, prom is one of the most highly
anticipated events of the year. And it is right around the corner.
Months of preparation and planning go into making this night magical
and memorable. Unfortunately, prom and graduation nights are the two
most dangerous times of the year for high school students.
On prom night there are more opportunities for disaster. Kids feel
they’re even more invincible that night than usual. They’re all dressed
up and look so mature … with the hair and the nails and the tuxes. They
think they’re more grown up.
But when you add alcohol to the mix, the picture starts to blur in a
way that doesn’t happen for adults. Alcohol affects a teenage brain
differently. It has a more intense reaction on a developing brain. The
‘’legal limit’’ for alcohol consumption may be acceptable when an adult
gets behind the wheel, because for a more mature person certain safety
precautions have become habit. But for an adolescent, someone with much
less experience, driving safely becomes much harder to do even within
the ‘’legal limit.’’
What a school-sponsored party does is to take away some of the dangerous risk and replace it with healthy risks.
Post prom parties have become very popular throughout the United States
during the past decade. And they are credited with saving many teenage
lives.
A group of Caledonia area parents are working hard to make the post prom party here a success, and prom night 2008 a safe one.
Most post prom parties begin immediately following the prom, and
doesn’t end until sun-up the following morning. Those attending the
party are “locked in” and the only way they can leave the party is if
they are accompanied by a parent. Post prom parties are alcohol free
and supervised by adults.
Students attending Caledonia’s post prom party will enjoy a
variety of different supervised activities such “Vegas Night,” video
games (Wii, Guitar Hero), music, putting for dough, bean bag games,
etc. Everyone attending the party will receive prizes and will
have a chance to win cash. There will be plenty of food and
drinks.
The Project Prom 2008 committee needs your help. They need adult
volunteers to help with the planning, set-up, supervision throughout
the night, and clean-up the next morning. They also need the help of
the community with monetary or product donations and/or gift
certificates.
Local businesses get “hit up” all the time by groups and organizations.
It’s the nature of being in business. But if there is one local event
that truly can help save lives, it is the yearly post prom party.
Please support Project Prom 2008 any way you can. It’s a very
worthwhile endeavor, and just might keep our young citizens from being
involved in a tragic accident.
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