By Lauren Bodner, Staff Writer — Driving Cinema: The Life Changing Project came to the school to explain safe driving techniques to the sophomore class on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Driving Cinema, a program that targets young drivers that are in the beginning stages of learning how to drive, provided the sophomore class with a remote control and 3D goggles for the interactive assembly. The remote control was used in the first portion of the assembly to take a short survey about safe driving techniques and at the end of the assembly to take a short survey about the three videos played during the assembly.

Officer Chad Smith is a major supporter of this program.

¨Safe Community Coalition of Stark County contacted me with an open grant for this program. We were the first school to receive this grant, which provided a 90 minute assembly and allowed 200 students in the assembly due to the amount of remotes,” Officer Chad Smith said. “My goal was to target the sophomores since they are the newest drivers out on the road. I liked the education behind drinking that this program provided to the sophomore class.”

In 2013, 2,163 teen drivers nationwide from the ages 16 to 19 died due to drinking and driving. In the assembly there were three videos, each with a different scenario where bad driving techniques played a major role.

The first video described three friends who went out and the designated driver, who promised his friends he would not drink alcohol, drank and got into a car accident that left his best friend paralyzed.

The second video described a scenario where a young driver hit a girl crossing the street without seeing her because he was on his phone texting.

The third video described real people who suffered serious consequences because they didn’t listen and followed bad driving techniques.

“I found the assembly helpful because it taught me how to be more safe when driving,” sophomore Kinsey Knoch said.

Many students found each video very important but the first video (drinking) had the biggest impact.

“I learned some new things and I think it helped show the real life consequences to drinking and driving,” sophomore Morgan Barker said.

Bad driving techniques usually involve more young drivers than adult drivers because a young driver is not yet experienced enough to understand the full consequences of the road.

Staff members also thought this assembly was very helpful to the students and liked the education presented.

“I think that the students learned more because there was more focus needed and it was an interactive assembly that involved 3D. I hope the students learn something from the program and don’t make the same mistakes as the victims in the program. I also hope the students follow more rules,” Smith said.

[Updated Aug. 19, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]