Piscataway High School students win $10,000 grand prize for safe-driving campaign
Piscataway High School's Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) won the $10,000 grand prize in the 15th annual U Got Brains Champion Schools Program.
The contest is sponsored by the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey (BIANJ) and recognized the student group's multimedia campaign aimed at encouraging safe driving by teens and community at large.
The annual initiative engages the state's high school students and staff in creating campaigns on teen driving safety. In particular, the contest's judges praised the students' "Pway You Know: Drive Safe, Drive Slow" project as "a creative, community-rooted effort focused on reducing speeding."
"With bold branding tied to school spirit, strong teamwork, and cross-club collaboration, Piscataway's campaign reached 2,300 students and resonated across the community to lay a powerful foundation for ongoing change," the BIANJ wrote on its website.
Along with Piscataway, two other high schools − Indian Hills and Matawan − were highlighted as grand prize winners of the more than 60 schools competing. The grand prize money was donated by NJM Insurance Group.
"As a first-year club, to win the grand prize award competing against over 60 other schools in New Jersey has been nothing short of amazing," said Piscataway's SADD adviser Laura Benjamin, a health and physical education teacher. "I am so proud of the commitment these students made to ensuring such an important message about safe driving and no speeding got out to the student body of PHS and the community of Piscataway."
Principal Chris Baldassano said he is proud of the SADD Club, not just for its victory in theU Got Brains competition, but for all their hard work in starting and building the club.
"This is such a talented, driven group of students that genuinely cares about making their community a better, safer place, and I am so impressed with their effort this year," Baldassano said. "I am looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the future."
More: Bound Brook students' PSA on distracted driving to air later this year
SADD, which has more than 40 members, worked closely with Officers William Kloos, Mark Chanley and Ian Paglia and Sgt. Hakeem Abdullah of the Piscataway Police Department to determine its messaging and to share the campaign with the community. The students used police data to zero in on speeding as the top traffic-safety issue in the community. The police also invited the students to join Piscataway's Safe Streets Initiative and joined the students at events to share information about safe driving.
"One of the best takeaways from this experience has been the relationship we built with the three officers and sergeant of the Safe Streets team at the Piscataway Police Department," Benjamin said. "We joined their events, and they joined ours. There wasn't one event in regard to this campaign that wasn't a collaborative effort. They have grown to be just as much a part of the team as the students and myself, and we really appreciate them."
The centerpiece of the safe-driving campaign was the 'Pway You Know: Drive Safe, Drive Slow' logo and slogan. The logo was created by junior Josiah Johnson, who is a member of the SADD leadership team along with Tanvi Narava, Tyler West and Gabrielle Williams. The message has been showing since February on electronic signs in front of every school in the district, as well as police and township signs and information. SADD members also sold merchandise such as shirts, hats, and pins displaying the slogan.
SADD also partnered with the Piscataway's Art Honor Society for a "Chalk the Walk" event on April 10, drawing creative safe-driving messages on the sidewalks outside the high school as another creative way to spread the word.
As part of SADD's entry into the U Got Brains competition, SADD members created a video detailing the multitude of outreach programs the students implemented with the Safe Streets program.
"We kind of learned as we went, which makes this win even more special," Benjamin said. "The students worked together, brought friends on board to join the group, built confidence in themselves, showed commitment, and really let their talents shine. Everyone had something to offer to the group to get us to our win."
email: cmakin@gannettnj.com
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning feature, news and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Piscataway HS students win $10K grand prize for safe-driving campaign
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