Every15Minutes.com came to my son's high school in 2000 or 2001. I didn't know anything about it and when I picked my son up from school, he was telling me all about it and I literally started crying just hearing about it! I went home and learned about it online and I can't stress enough what a fantastic program this is! Every single high school in the country should participate in this program. It should be made available and be mandatory. It works and it opens up conversations with our teens that really need to be opened. I know my son was extremely moved by it, and even told me some of his friends (his male friends) were crying during the memorial service, even knowing it hadn't actually happened! That's compelling and that kind of impact is exactly what we need! To this day, my son always has a sober designated driver or he takes a cab. No exceptions! I commend Every15Minutes.com and thank all those who have made it possible in our schools and for our teens! Laurie H
Laurie H. Mar 10, 2010
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This is a great program. I've been lucky enough to play the Grim Reaper for the past 6 years at one of the local high schools and I must say, they go into this laughing and by the time it's over, most of the participants are in tears.
Joe Mar 9, 2010
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Thank you for coming to our school. This program has a great meaning to it and i think every school should go through this.
Calicrook Mar 3, 2010
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Every 15 Minutes is a life changing thing. When teens get warned as they have these MOCKS and speakers teens realize how serious they get and understand the consequences that is behind drinking and driving. I'm in a Stand Tall Don't Fall group and we tried to proposed my high school of having a Every 15 Minute MOCK scene, and the school rejected it. We tried and tried but the school just wouldn't so that was that. We still try to get the word out though with teens in our group and within the community. So thanks Every 15 Minutes your a life changing program which helps a lot. Thank You...
Michael Mar 1, 2010
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For my senior project 2 years ago I coordinated the every 15 Minutes program. I went back this year to speak to the high ups at the school to bring it back again. I was shocked when I was turned down. I even showed them several of the responces I have gotten over the past 2 years from the partisipants and the viewers. Fortunatly to this day my high school has not seen one death related to alcohol.
However I am sad to say someone I knew from my graduating class was arrested for DUI not to long ago. Shortly after his arrest I got an e-mail from him saying that he should have paid attention more to the program that was done during his senior year and I'm sure that hes passing the word around now.
Thanks E15M for making a differance in the community. Keep up the good work! - Tony, Frederick MD
(completed project April 25, 2008 at Tuscarora High)
Tony Feb 23, 2010
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K cool program. late...
Matt and Andrew Feb 18, 2010
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I CAN TELL YOU AS A MEDIC IN THIS PRODUCTION IT HAS AN IMPACT ON US TOO!
John Greene Feb 17, 2010
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As everyone would know, drinking and driving is not a smart idea. Ive been at my county morgue and sow how many people are related in theses accidents when alcohol is involved. If they wouldn't drink and drive they wouldn't end up in the morgue. Its sad. The Every 15 minutes Program really helps teens to show what will happen to you if you drink and drive. Its horrifying for the family members to get a call from the Coroner's office or the Medical Examiners office saying there son/daughter/wife/husband ect is in the morgue. YOU CAN PREVENT THIS! Hollister, CA
Milton Castelo Dec 5, 2009
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If this video isn't affective for anyone that drinks and drives, I guess their life is definately in God's hands......Muskogee, OK
Brenda Silkebakken Nov 19, 2009
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very POWERFUL PROGRAM. I AGREE IT S/B MANDATORY FOR JR HIGH - SR HIGH. IF IT SAVES ONE CHILD IT WOULD BE WORTH IT. I HAVE BEEN TOO CLOSE TO THE REALITY OF THIS IN MY LIFE, BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD WE WERE SPARED. OUR GUARDIAN ASNGELS ARE VERY BUSY. THEY NEED ALL THE HELP THEY CAN GET!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! Spencer, Iowa
THERESA WURTH Oct 19, 2009
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Dear Amy,
WOW!!! Thank you so much for coordinating and bringing the "Every 15 Minutes" Program to Winters Mill High School.We have never been involved in such a powerful, moving program throughout my sons' schooling. (Nor have we attended an assembly with so many well-deserved standing ovations!) If "Every 15 Minutes" helps one Falcon make a better choice or prevents one Falcon from getting hurt or saves one Falcon life, then all of the thought, time and effort was worthwhile!!! The program is promoting our students to "think" and "remember" making it even more effective.
Please convey our appreciation to those emergency personnel who may have taken time away from their families to be with our children or who may have taken time off from their jobs.
Lastly, thank you for bringing such a strong, meaningful message to the entire Falcon Community and for providing my son with one of the best learning experiences ever!!!!!
Sincerely,
Joe and Teresa McCulloh
Teresa McCulloh Sep 25, 2009
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Today this program came and did their presentation at my school. Wow. What an experience. It was probably the saddest day of my whole life. The parents and students took it all very seriously, and to heart. I'm so greatful that I got to see everything that I saw. Nothing can compare to "friends dying" and the hurt and pain that the parents had to go through. The thing that hit me the most, was the guest speaker. Oh my gosh. I jsut lost it. I have never cried so much in my life. I support this program 100% and I am extremely greatful that I got to experience it this year. I will never...never drink and drive. I feel very strongly that this presentation impacted a lot of the students. I hope that we all know to make the right choices, and this is something that will stay in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives. I know that this day will be one that I remember forever.
I hope that this program continues to do what they do. Thank you so much for everything that went on today. Every 15 Minutes :)
Allie Horn Sep 22, 2009
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Usually I leave school after an assembly and dont take to heart what I saw and heard and I thought this would be like any other of those times. It wasnt. Seeing the raw emotion displayed by both students and parents was extremely powerful and I know almost all of my peers feel the same way. I have a feeling that this will stay with me for a very long time and my heart truly goes out to those who have lost loved ones and friends to any kind of accident alcohol induced or not. Westminster, MD
anonymous Sep 22, 2009
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I aparticipated in the mock crash at etiwanda and it was a life changing experience. It was an emotional day for not just me but for everybody and brought me in on a new prospective in life. I would like to thank this program for changong the so many lives who were involved or witnessed it. Etiwanda
jamal Sep 10, 2009
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I have watched all the videos and everything and i really think that the Every 15 Minutes program is amazing. I really think that this program needs to happen at my school! Not to sure on how to go about it though. Waycross, Ga
Chasity Thomas Sep 6, 2009
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Being in the Every Fiteen Minutes program truly changed my life. Althought I never really drank and all during high school, this program changed me. After loosing a close friend two years prior to drunk driving, I knew that I had to do this program. My high school had a reputation you could say for parties. However, on the day this program took place... you could hear a pin drop. It was powerful. I played the role of the hospital death and was drenced in fake blood. Having to pretend I was dead and having to write a final goodbye letter to my parents hit me emotionally. It honestly took me weeks to get over it. But I am so glad I did this program. Everyone who was in it changed for the better and really truly understand the meaning of "Take away the keys". I will never ever allow anyone I know to drink and driving, because I know the messy outcomes. I urge anyone who reads these testimonals to get invovled with this program, watch our high schools video (Southwest High School) or ask your school to this program. It is truly life changing, worth-while and eye opening. Thank you Every 15 Minutes. --Jackie Erzinger Green Bay, WI
Jackie Erzinger Sep 4, 2009
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I was in the every 15 minute program this last year at my high school. When I first found out i was nominated for this i wasn't really intersted because of an accedent that involved a loved one.But as the director and the officer went on telling us about it all i could think about was how so many of my friends drink and how they don't realize their lives can be gone in less than a second.The first day of the actual event i could hear people laughing in the bleachers and making stupid comments. I think the hardest paert of the program was having to litterely watch your friends die. The funeral part made the most impact because the entire school got to hear our stories of our lives and pictures of our friends and families. The Thing i'll never forget about that day was the look in my best friend's eyes when we finally got to hug after the program. The only thing i remember him telling me was, "Don't you ever die again". His expression will forever remind me why i won't choose to drink and drive.
Alli Forbes Aug 16, 2009
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I lost my Dad to a drunk driver in March of 1980, 3 days before my 16th birthday. My life has been forever changed. I love and miss you Dad. My Dad was struck while riding his bicycle home from work on a rural road, by a Navy Chief who was on duty in his private owned vehicle. Thank God for those who saw this drunk hit my Dad and send him 100 yards into a dirt field, because he kept right on driving after the incident. The witnesses followed the drunk and stopped him so he could face the consequences for his action. He was so drunk he was unaware what he had done. He served a small 6 month sentence, on the weekends for what he did. He lost his license but was witnessed driving a Government vehicle, on the Navy Base only weeks late, under the influence again. Some people will NEVER learn, even after being responsible for the unimaginable. Oxnard, CA
Jim Wilson Aug 4, 2009
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This past school year I was involved in the Every 15 minutes program at my high school.(Adams City High)I was part of the walking dead, but three of my very close friends were in the mock accident. Two of them were sisters. Identical twins at that. One of them died. Watching the accident knowing that it was not real but it still had a large impact on my life. My other friend who was in the mock crash had "died" at the hospital. At the retreat getting to see everyone was a sureal feeling. There were even people there that I was not too fond of, but the program brought us all together. I am greatful because where I live drinking is considered the "cool" thing to do. Even though the kids didn't show it at first they were greatly impacted by the program. Watching my two friends be tore apart like that was the hardest thing I had to do. Right after the mock accident it was my turn to "die" Seeing my friend who was pronounced "dead at the scene" alive and walking was hard because she still had on her stage make up. I can not tell you how long we held eachother crying because of the impact that it has had on us. Even to this day after we graduated we still talk about the program and how it has taught us a valuable lesson. Life is too precious to waste. Dont drink and drive.
Stephanie Marques, ACHS 2009
Stephanie Marques Jul 22, 2009
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I just saw the video from Notre Dame High School. I think this program should be mandatory across the country. Woodstock, GA
Jerry Driscoll Jul 17, 2009
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I was a participant in my high school's(Fallbrook Union High School) Every 15 Minutes program this past April. Not only was I a "Walking Dead" and was able to go to the retreat and met so many people who have had their lives impacted by drunk driving but my Dad gave a "mock-eulogy" to the school about me. I knew going into the assembly the on the second day that it was going to be hard listening to my Dad talk about me as though I was gone and never coming back. But I hoped that it would get through to some of the people I knew at school that do drink and sometimes drive while intoxicated.
It was only a day or so after the program that I started having classmates coming up to me and telling me thank you and to tell my Dad thank you as well. They had a realization while sitting in the bleachers during the assembly; My dad could be one of their parents if they didn't stop drinking and driving. It is the cold reality of the situation of drinking and driving, the fact that it can happen to anyone at anytime.
The two people inparticular have told me thank you. One was a girl who I am very close to and for her privacy I will call her Mary. The day after the Every 15 Minutes program was over she told me how she's been having a really hard time in life lately and had up until the day before been thinking about committing suicide by crashing her car. But after seeing my Dad talk about me like I was gone. Mary thought about her parents having to go through the same thing and she just couldn't bring herself to get into the car.
-I do realize that her story doesn't have anything to do with drunk driving but still the Every 15 Minutes Program created an opportunity for Mary to see a reality she hadn't thought of to that extent.
The next story is about a guy, who once again I will call Sam for his privacy. He simply came up to me later in the school year a few months after the program. When he came up to me he pulled me aside and said "thank you so much Jacki, I was completely drunk this weekend at a party and was getting in my car to drive home but all I could think of as I was about to start my car was seeing you in the assembly as your dad read your eulogy. I just couldn't start the car, so I went back inside the house and stayed there that night. Thank you so much, I really think you saved my life."
I knew this program was going to be amazing. I just didn't realize it would give me the opportunity to affect people like this.
Thank you so much for bringing this program to my high school. It really does work.
Jacklyn Vaughan-Chaldy Jul 8, 2009
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A couple years ago, one of my friends was killed by a drunk driver going down a residential street at speeds of up to 100 mph. When she was killed she left behind two young children ages 5 and 7 years old. She also was 5 months pregnant and the baby did not survive. I am glad that there are programs like this out there to education high school students of the devastation of drunk driving so that trageties like the one that happened to my friend will not occur. It would be nice if in one of the "Every 15 minutes" programs one of the victims would be a mother of young children and also possibly pregnant.
Jason Snyder Jun 19, 2009
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Last month the "Every 15 Minutes" was planned at Foothill High School. My son was one of students involved in the crash. It was devastating and a very emotional two days. As a parent I was asked to come to the school for a parent retreat, I was greeted by students staying after school and the emotion coming from them was sincere. Nothing can prepare you for what happened, not even knowing that it was acting. My boy said the students involved were taken by surprise by how emotional they all got. I am so thankful that this was just a planned lesson and all of our children came home the next day and that this parents worse fear was realized in such a positive and helpful manner. Even if it helps just one student it is worth it. Thank you for such a program, I hope that one day we can name this something that happened in the past not "Every 15 minutes". Again thank you.
Julie Dodson Jun 8, 2009
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A week ago you guys came to West Hills high school, and i just wanted to let you know how grateful i am. I am a West Hills senior and i firmly believe that performance and assembly will be by far the most memorable part of my highschool carreer. I really hope that you guys can come more often because i would absolutely love to have more kids see that. I had such a great impact on me and my friends alike. Thank you so much, this is an amazing program. La Mesa, CA
Danielle Vreeland May 28, 2009
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This is really great. Graham , Tx
Rebecca and Ashley May 27, 2009
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