NHS Health Fair Demonstrates Danger Of Texting While Driving

By Eliza Hallabeck

Once again booths were set up on Thursday, May 17, in the Newtown High School cafetorium for the annual Spring Health Fair.

This year had a focus on the dangers of texting while driving, with All-Star Transportation of Torrington providing carts for students to test the dangers of texting while driving in a safely confined area of the school’s back campus, and the NHS group Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) offering advise against the topic and more.

Newtown’s Health District Director Donna Culbert also oversaw a booth that promoted the Health District’s “BLAST” message, which lists five ways to help stay safe from ticks: bathe (or shower) soon after coming indoors; look for ticks and remove with tweezers; apply repellents for skin and/or clothing; spray the perimeter of a yard for ticks; and treat pets with a product recommended by a veterinarian.

The booth also offered pamphlets and further information on tick prevention, including a display of sprays that can be used to help repel ticks.

NHS teacher Sue McConnell’s health classes were represented by students at two adjoining booths. Each class created projects that were presented during the health fair. One project had students promoting stress relief for military families, and the other had students using the Race To Nowhere film to argue a need to reduce the amount of homework given to students.

At another station, Chartwells School Dining Services was represented by Chartwells’ Resident Dietician Jill Patterson and Chartwells-Morrison’s dietetic intern Cora Ragaini. Ms Patterson said of the different stations set up at the Chartwells table, students were responding most to “My Plate,” an interactive poster board students could use to create meals, and “Nutrition Trivia,” set up like a Jeopardy game.

At SADD’s table students gave out bags, rings, ChapStick, stickers, and pamphlets on summer safety tips and on distracted driving.

Kaitlyn Johnson, community coordinator for Newtown Youth & Family Services, oversaw a booth for her organization. Students had the chance to learn about the dangers of underage drinking, and as a promotion they had their photos taken. Students can claim their photos from Ikesatomic.com or they will be posted to the NYFS Facebook page, “Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc.”

The NHS physical education department also had students facing off over an electronic dancing game that monitored footsteps and timing.

Outside, Newtown High School Resource Officer Jason Flynn and Newtown Middle School Resource Officer Lenny Penna oversaw one of the four outside stations for the health fair. The “Seat Belt Convincer,” a machine provided by the Connecticut State Police Department, demonstrated what a crash a five miles per hour would be like.

All-Star’s Brandon Dufour oversaw the company’s different stations during the health fair. All-Star Principal John Dufour was also present for the event, and he said All-Star’s stations had been busy all day. Brandon Dufour explained All-Star’s three stations were designed to demonstrate three kinds of distractions that can face drivers: cognitive, manual, and visual.

At one of All-Star’s stations students were asked to memorize the order of a deck of cards, then order the cards first without distractions then order the cards while describing the directions from the school to their home.

At another, students were given goggles that simulate being drunk to wear while walking and performing different tasks.

At All-Star’s final station, cones were set up for students to drive carts through while texting friends. Instructors rode with the students through the course, and friends stood on the sidelines yelling and receiving text messages from the driver of the cart.

After testing the driving course, one student admitted it was hard to drive while texting his friends.