Coronado High steers to first 1st place in Drive Smart

       Coronado High tied with Woodland Park for the top score among 32 schools in the annual Drive Smart Colorado Springs High School Traffic Safety Challenge.

Three student leaders in Coronado High's Drive Smart first place are (from left) media specialist Kevin Kennedy, Student Body Vice President Allie Ives and President Maria Escobar.
Westside Pioneer photo

       The first-place tie was the highest-ever finish for the Westside high school, according to Student Body President Maria Escobar.
       The program, aimed at improving teen driving safety, is sponsored and judged by the Colorado Springs Police Department, in keeping with a grassroots citizen program that started in 1989.
       Coronado's efforts, organized by its Student Council, occurred over a one-week span last fall. During that time, there were events on campus, with kids mostly attending/participating during their lunch breaks. Students had chances to wear “drunk goggles” (to feel what it's like to be impaired), to sit in a crash simulator (to experience a collision at 8 mph) and to drive go-carts that were wired to react slowly as if the drivers were inebriated.
       Other aspects included an assembly with a speaker from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a safe-driving video (airing on District 11's Channel 16) produced by Coronado student Kevin Kennedy, a place where students could sign pledges to wear seat belts, a costumed “grim reaper” (a reminder that every 12 hours a teen dies in a car crash) and a program outreach to two of Coronado's elementary feeder schools (Trailblazer and Jackson).
       The first-place tie also earned $350 in Drive Smart rewards for the school, Escobar noted.
       She credited her vice president, Allie Ives, for coordinating students' efforts. “We all helped, but it was her big project for the year,” Escobar said.
       Ives pointed out a family connection with the Drive Smart Challenge. Her older brother Andrew had been student president in 2007-08 (with his vice president, Parker King, handling the details) when Coronado expanded its Drive Smart involvement to include many of the elements that were offered this year. As for the first- place honor, “I'm really excited about it,” she said.

Westside Pioneer article