Keystone students learn a sobering lesson

Knox Volunteer Fire Department members used a Jaws of Life style apparatus to extricate a victim during the mock accident exercise Thursday at Keystone High School. (By Randy Bartley)

Sirens screamed as fire trucks and ambulance units pulled into Keystone High School on Thursday morning, but there was no accident.

Instead, firefighters were participating in a mock crash.

The Keystone prom is tonight, and high school staff member Kelli McNaughton said “we are holding this in an effort to sway students to make healthy decisions during prom season.”

McNaughton, who was dressed as the Grim Reaper, said a teenager dies from drunk driving or distracted driving every 15 minutes.

“Every 15 minutes I pull a student out of school, paint their face white and I give them a scenario of how they died that they wear on their chest,” McNaughton said. “It simulates the teenager’s passing.”

The student is not permitted to speak to anyone for the rest of the day.

McNaughton said Keystone had run the program a few years ago but could not during the pandemic.

Two members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving spoke to the entire student body after the mock accident.