Buffalo County 10th grade students from Alma, Cochrane-Fountain City, Gilmanton, and Mondovi School Districts participated in the fifth annual Tenth Grade Prevention Day on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. Tom Goeltz from the Distracted Driving Survivors Network and National Safety Council was the first of two featured presentations. Mr. Goeltz has spoken to thousands of students throughout the Midwest and he has been a part of this prevention day since its anaugral event!. He shared about his personal tragedy losing his daughter and her unborn child due to a horrific crash caused by a distracted driver. Goeltz’s story and powerful message caught the attention of sophomore students. Goeltz identified distracted driving as texting, calling, focusing on passengers in the vehicle and other distractions in the vehicle that pull the driver away from focusing physically, visually, or cognitively on the road. Goeltz illustrated for students how reaction time is decreased when a driver, either a student or an adult, tries to multitask while driving. Goeltz also provided students with strategies to reduce their addition of distracted driving.
The second part of the prevention day was a set of interactive experiences centered on healthy relationships led by youth and adults from the Buffalo County Partnership Council. Each 10th grade student had the opportunity to discuss the impacts of gender in relationships, contribute to a visual display of love, and hear personal stories from their peers related to dating in today’s world.
The topic of distracted driving and healthy dating relationships was selected as target prevention area for Buffalo County tenth graders based on local research data. The annual 10th grade prevention day was sponsored and funded by the Buffalo County Partnership Council (BCPC). BCPC is a local coalition made up of students, educators, law enforcement, university faculty, and public health advocates that provide collaborative prevention programming to educate youth and their families to make healthy choices and positively influence people and policies.
