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Prom and graduation are two of the highlights of a high school senior's year, but the combination of alcohol and accidents may put a bloody damper on those activities.
The Hemingford Volunteer Fire Department will hold an activity Wednesday, April 23 that should smack students squarely between the eyes. For the third time in ten years the HVFD will sponsor the Grim Reaper Project.
The Grim Reaper Project is an activity that takes place as the students attend a regular day of classes. It is a program to give students a first-hand look at what drinking alcohol and driving can do to teenagers. It exhibits the national statistics on automobile accidents related to alcohol. As the Grim Reaper makes his way through the student body to claim the lives of teenagers, the impact of losing a classmate or best friend becomes evident.
Here's what will happen Friday at Hemingford High School:
The Grim Reaper will appear and claim two students every hour. The student visited by the Grim Reaper will be given a black tee shirt to wear the remainder of the day. Students wearing a black tee shirt have just become a fatality due to drunk driving. They will be in class but will not talk, nor should they be called on. They are dead.
At 1:30 p.m., there will be a mock car crash with four students involved, one of which will be wearing a black tee shirt. Following the accident there will be an assembly to explain what has been happening throughout the day and to encourage a safe and somber prom and graduation.
Grim Reaper Day at Hemingford High School is co-sponsored by the Panhandle Substance Abuse Council and the Educational Service Unit #13.
Grim Reaper Day was also held in 1999 and 2004.