Friday, February 27, 2015
Summertown High School BITZ Community Event
Summertown High School was honored this year to be selected by Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt to participate in a program called BITZ – Be In The Zone, Turn Off Your Phone, a research-driven program to educate teens about the dangers of distracted driving.
This especially focuses on cell-phone use and texting while driving. Only eleven schools in the state of TN were privileged to be chosen to participate.
One of the main reasons that a high school in our county was chosen was because Lawrence County has one of the highest teen driving fatality rates. SHS has been very successful so far implementing the year-long, student-led campaign.
There were many specific requirements to be completed by the end of the campaign which will be upcoming in April, each with its own precise criterion. However, with some activities, the criterion allowed room for schools to be creative.
The Summertown High School HOSA and FBLA clubs have been the coordinators of the BITZ program at their school. So far throughout the year, the program has consisted of activities, events, and use of various types of media coverage to not only reach the students of Summertown High School, but also reach the vast population within Lawrence County.
With each successful activity completion, Summertown High School HOSA and FBLA members have shown much creativity, precise planning, and leadership qualities that has directly impacted both their school and community.
One of the most recent events by SHS to reach the vast population was a community wide event hosted during the home basketball game against Loretto on January 27th.
As people entered the gym lobby on this night, they were able to view letters displayed on the walls written by Summertown Elementary students to their parents regarding the dangers of texting and driving.
As a sponsor of the BITZ program, our local Allstate representative, Barry Putman, provided a booth in the gym lobby that gave community members an opportunity to “X the Text” which is a pledge to not text and drive.
Those who took the pledge were awarded BITZ cups, pens, bags, and thumb rings. Inside the gym, there were various activities throughout the night. SHS partnered with the Summertown Sonic who hosted a half time give away of food items.
SHS student, Titus Houser, competed against the Sonic Coney in a cardboard box car race around the gym. However, the Sonic Coney crashed before the finish line due to his bad habit of texting while driving.
SHS Cheerleaders proudly participated by throwing out BITZ t-shirts to the crowd; a whopping 300 shirts were given away at the event! Announcements were made throughout the night to the community attendees to raise the awareness of the dangers of distracted driving.
Summertown High School will continue their quest to impact their school and community to raise the awareness of the dangers of distracted driving through the implementation of the BITZ program.
They would like to encourage the citizens of Lawrence County to spread the word and drive safely. The goal is to change the current statistic that Lawrence County holds as one of the counties with the highest teen driving fatality rates and save some lives!
The BITZ program is sponsored by Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Allstate Insurance Company, and Ford Motor Company.
