Friday, August 21, 2009
Teen buckles down on drivers
Zack Divers has become a regional trainer for a youth group that promotes safe driving in creative ways.
STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times
Zack Divers graduated from Staunton River High School in Bedford County and will be a freshman at Ferrum College in the fall.
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At first glance, Zack Divers would seem a typical Roanoke area 18-year-old.
He graduated in the spring from Staunton River High School in Bedford County, then spent the summer preparing to attend Ferrum College, where he plans to major in criminal justice.
Divers also picked up a part-time job last month. But instead of flipping hamburgers or bagging groceries, he'll train youth about traffic safety. As a member of Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety at his high school, Divers took his volunteer hours and turned them into something much more serious -- a job as regional trainer with the organization.
YOVASO began in the Roanoke Valley eight years ago and is meant to challenge high school students to think beyond phrases such as "click it or ticket" or "friends don't let friends drive drunk." Awards are given to the most creative campaigns. Each group's goal is simple enough: to prevent friends from dying in cars.
About two years ago, Divers didn't know what YOVASO was. But then a friend invited him to one of the program's summer retreats. Divers was surprised to learn the reality behind traffic-related fatalities among teens.
He still wasn't completely convinced until he participated in a mock crash during his junior year.
The vehicles were placed on the Staunton River campus to look like a real crash. Divers pretended to be a student who was still alive in a crashed car. The person he played didn't die because he'd been wearing his seat belt. Still, the crash was bad and the "Jaws of Life" were brought in to unwrap the car from around Divers. Looking at his friends' faces through broken glass and twisted metal, he realized the impact he was making.
"Seeing the way the students were affected by that -- that really hit home. That really got me," he said.
Last year, Divers' YOVASO team won the Save Your Tailgate campaign, an annual competition that centers around connecting with teenagers during football season. He attributes his team's success to its attendance at the school's football games and the football team's active participation. Divers was also proud of the way YOVASO helped increase the percentage of students who wore their seat belts.
At the end of the three-week campaign, a 14 percentage point increase in seat belt usage was noted, from 80 percent to 94 percent.
Mary King, program administrator for YOVASO, said Divers is an example of the commitment that teens have to preventing driving fatalities from happening to students at their school.
"It shows how well YOVASO is helping high school students become involved," she said.
Morgan Dillon, a recent graduate of Christiansburg High School, also has been hired as a regional trainer. Dillon and Divers will regularly check in on area high schools' progress throughout the school year, giving advice and helping out whenever possible. The pair also will train students to participate in their schools' YOVASO programs.
