LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — The Youth Center’s Every 15 Minutes applications are still open! This is a chance for students to volunteer and experience an eye-opening event that shows the impact of driving irresponsibly. During the program on April 3-4, 2025, volunteers will engage in impactful activities that promote critical thinking, safety and responsible decision-making. There are 32 spots open to students at Los Alamitos High School.
When picked, the students and their parents will undergo training to ensure the impact on the community. The staged event will have a police officer come into the class pull out a student and pronounce them dead every 15 minutes. The students pretending to be dead can no longer interact with their peers. Students picked will also be trained on how to act during the day when the event goes on. Parents and friends of the students are left unaware of the training and the participation of the students giving the experience of a real traffic accident.
A mock traffic accident will also play out in which rescue workers will take part in front of students, allowing them to view how emergency responders deal with situations. Uniformed officers will also conduct mock death notifications to the student’s families at their homes or workplaces. Participants visit a morgue, a hospital emergency room and a police department jail, and will experience the booking process for “drunk driving.”
After the day of activities, students participate in an overnight retreat, which emphasizes emotional support and reflection. They write letters to their parents beginning with, “Dear Mom and Dad, every fifteen minutes someone in the United States dies from an alcohol-related accident. Today I died. I never had the chance to tell you…”
“Students should try to participate in Every 15 Minutes because it provides an impactful experience that could alter their perceptions of drinking and driving and to see the value of life,” Lina Lumme, Executive Director of The Youth Center, said.
The program began in 1997 when a student discovered the presentation while on vacation in Washington. They pitched the idea to The Youth Center, and the first Every 15 Minutes was held at LAHS in 1999. Every 15 Minutes encourages students to think critically about their decisions and can help them make safer choices, potentially saving their own and others’ lives.
“I am very pleased with the impact and effect of the Every 15 Minutes program. Would highly recommend it. I learned it is wonderful to have others speaking wisdom to my child. They’ve heard my voice all their lives and as teenagers, I’ve wondered if they even listen anymore,” Karen Dougherty said in a Youth Center review
If students want to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, visit The Youth Center’s website and apply to Every 15 Minutes while applications are still open!
This article was updated on Dec. 11 at 12:45 p.m.
