This week at my high school, the group of students called SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions (along with the help of several teachers, of course), put on a day-long program just before spring break.

 Personally, I find it a pretty bad idea to let sixteen- and seventeen-year-old kids travel to spring break destinations in groups devoid of chaperones. I hate the sound of the word “chaperone.” It makes me sound terribly old fashioned. (I am only 28, by the way.)  But, really, one thing I know for sure from my experiences with teenagers is that the more of them you put together, the stupider they will act. This is especially true of boys. I have met several teenage boys who excel in academics, athletics, even standardized testing. These same boys when grouped together with equally intelligent peers will do things like burn the school letters into rivals’ football fields.

Decision making over spring break can be far more serious than pranks, unfortunately. In our county, over spring break each year, at least one teenager will die as the result of a bad decision, usually someone driving drunk.

This year, for our spring break program, we brought in an emergency room nurse with an unsavory and unsettling slide show. She showed the students pictures from actual drunk driving accidents that occurred in our area. The victims were all teenagers. She also talked about what happens after the accident. She described what emergency room doctors do to treat accident victims: the chest tube, the ventilator, the catheter. This kind of straightforward message really helps young people realize what the consequences of their decisions could be. They need to be told the unvarnished truth.

For the most part, my students take spring break day seriously. They act very squirrely for the whole week before break, but when it’s time for serious topics, they listen respectfully. This gives me hope.

Mary Ellen Freund