Music, videos teach teens to avoid destructive decisions
A dance party erupted in the Valley High School auditorium Tuesday afternoon during an assembly aimed at preventing underage drinking.
Road Radio USA, founded and hosted by Jim Mothersbaugh, used videos and music to teach students about destructive decisions.
Valley High School students jumped to their feet and waved their arms as Mothersbaugh interjected alcohol statistics with songs such as "Boom Boom Pow" by the pop group Black Eyed Peas.
"This is the same old message in a completely different way," Mothersbaugh said. "The last thing you want to hear is more ranting and raving about alcohol."
The program — dubbed a "live radio broadcast" — started with lights and a fog machine.
But it ended with a true story of a young man who almost died after an accident caused by a friend driving drunk.
The surprise at the end of the story — revealed to gasps among the students — was that Mothersbaugh was the young man.
He survived the crash 25 years ago as a high school senior but still has the scars and steel rod in his back to show the consequences of dangerous decisions involving alcohol.
"Do what you know is right," he said. "No one is going to make the choice for you."
He also talked about alcohol myths such as how to sober up, alcohol percentages in drinks and the path to becoming an alcoholic. A video of Pittsburgh attorney and program sponsor Edgar Snyder addressed the legal consequences related to alcohol offenses.
A father of a graduating senior talked in a video about the penalties for parents who allow underage students to drink at home, even if car keys are collected. The social host law in Pennsylvania makes it illegal to provide a place for teenagers to drink alcohol.
Tenth-grader Kristen Gartley, 15, of New Kensington said the assembly was interesting and different from other programs held at the school and that it kept the students' attention. She also liked that it was energetic.
She said she was struck by the statistic that more than 185,000 Americans died because of alcohol from 1996 to 2006.
"It really puts everything in perspective," Gartley said.
The program, co-sponsored by the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, is in its 15th year. It has been shown to more than a million students in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.
