Project Ignition, a national teen safe driving program, sponsored by
State Farm and the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) released
its top ten schools last Thursday. One area high school, Fieldcrest
High School (Minonk, IL), was awarded Tier II status (Top Ten). Top
ten schools are eligible for $2,500.00 in continuation money for their
second-year plans, and a $5,000.00 travel stipend to attend the
National Service-Learning Conference in April 2012.
Project Ignition is in its seventh year of saving lives, according to
its website. It is a grant program that uses service learning to help
teen driving safety issues. To become a Project Ignition team, a high
school teen safe driving team must apply for Tier I status. The
applying team must indicate areas in which they believe distracted
driving is an issue. For example, texting while driving, speeding, and
so on. Tier I applications were due in late November of 2010. If the
team made Tier I status, a $2,000.00 grant was awarded to the team to
help them spread their message. The grant session lasted from January
1st to April 25th of this year. Tier I schools are then asked to
submit a final report to see if their project is “Tier II worthy.”
Throughout the grant session the Fieldcrest PI team sponsored a
Caution Night event, held various assemblies, worked with area city
councils, partnered with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and brought
in guest speakers to the high school. The Caution Night event allowed
El-Paso Gridley High School to participate in the various activities
sponsored by the PI team. Reflection was integrated into the event
including luminaries and a moment of silence to remember the 71 teens
who died last year in car accidents. When working with city councils,
the PI team was instrumental in the purchase of a speed trailer for
the City of Wenona. This purchase has allowed the Wenona Police
Department to target areas where drivers violate the posted speed
limits. One of the guest speakers that came to Fieldcrest were the
Waddells from Tazwell County. Randy & Cathy Waddell lost their
daughter in a speed related accident in 2005. Students of FHS were
influenced by the Waddells, and many students molded new driving
habits following the assembly.
The most influential event, however, was working with Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition. The episode dealt with the Brown family from
Wellman, TX. The Brown family lost their daughter, Alex, in a
texting-while-driving accident. Josh Zilm, a field producer for the
show and a Fieldcrest graduate, approached the Fieldcrest PI team
asking if they would help the show spread the word of Alex's story. In
total 396 students and staff members pledged to not text while
driving, and to remember Alex Brown. This presented the Fieldcrest PI
team with a great opportunity, to not only work with the national
broadcasted show, but to learn and educate. While the Fieldcrest
segment was not broadcasted on the show, the fact that FHS was able to
participate is what matters.
Although the events seem to highlight the program, documentation of
the events is key. Project Ignition requires participating schools to
submit documentation, ten pages of paperwork, to the judges. Focus
areas include: Key Learning, Project Results, Learning Objectives,
Project Summary, and Project Budget. A DVD also highlighting the
project is also asked to be submitted. After submitting, the school
waits to hear if they made Tier II status.
Fieldcrest will join nine other schools across the nation in Tier II.
Fieldcrest will continue with their efforts to educate teens about
driving issues. Remember "Life's not a race; slow down and keep the
pace."