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Distracted Driving Simulator Comes To PCA

Teen Driver Safety Week takes place October 16-22, and in preparation, The National Safety Council and State Farm partnered with local law enforcement departments and Mothers Against Drunk Driving to present “The Distracted Driving Simulator Tour”. The goal is to remind teen drivers that distracted driving can be deadly. 

Last week, this outdoor, hands-on learning experience came to our PCA campus. Director of Campus Security, Tony Poston, believed it would be a valuable opportunity for our students, “It is important to educate our students on the dangers they will come across when they are in school and when they graduate to become safe drivers in the future.”

Our Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors rotated through several different stations which gave them a taste of what they might face on the roadways. These stations included a virtual reality Distracted Driving Simulator, giving them an up-close look at what can go wrong in various situations including texting-while-driving, impaired driving and poor road conditions like snow and strong wind. Students climbed behind the wheel of a stationary vehicle, donned virtual reality goggles, and hit the gas as a mock scenario played out before their eyes. Students tried to respond to the road map in front of them as their classmates watched what was happening on a television monitor.

At another station, students navigated their way through the twists and turns of small orange cones while wearing Fatal Vision Goggles, goggles which simulate vision impairment. Next up was a mock traffic stop where local law enforcement officers reviewed the steps of what to do during a routine traffic stop. 

Students also rotated through a sobriety testing station, where they put on vision impairing goggles and were asked to walk in a straight line in a mock field sobriety test. Finally, representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers spoke with students and asked them driving trivia questions.

There’s no doubt PCA students gained a better understanding of the potentially deadly effects of distracted driving, coming away with information that will hopefully make them better and safer drivers in the future.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month At PCA

Throughout the hallways of PCA, you’ll find true works of art currently displayed. The Spanish classes and a crew of ninth and tenth graders, under the guidance of Sandra Pabst, brought beauty to the walls and doors by sketching, outlining, and cutting out life size replicas of authentic items from various countries in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month which runs from September 15 to October 15. 

“Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the history, culture and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Central America, the Caribbean and South America,” explained Pabst. “We experienced Hispanic heritage through the efforts of PCA students working in the community to display the culture.”

The Spanish department, which is made up of Tonya Whitehead, Laura Tyler, and Kevin Riley, are incorporating Hispanic Heritage lessons, videos and activities into their normal Spanish class instructional time throughout the month.

Activities included presentation projects on individual Spanish-speaking countries and 3rd-7th grade students having the opportunity to play Hispanic Heritage bingo which helped to teach them about influential people of Hispanic origin, such as directors, astronauts, and doctors. 

Señora Whitehead also was able to introduce different physical features, songs and food of the Hispanic culture to her class, such as pickled cactus and cacao. But she says it’s so much more than just a celebration of culture, quoting an article she recently read, “God promised Abraham that through him He would bless “all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3). The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church that this promise is being fulfilled through the church as God unites all things in Christ (1:10). It is amazing that one of the many things the Lord is uniting through Christ is a people from every tribe and nation. He is gathering under Christ a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church. So, when we celebrate together this month, we are letting the world around us know that God is powerful enough to unite two different cultures under the gospel of reconciliation.”  

When asked what stood out most about celebrating Hispanic heritage, 10th grader Grace Loehr said, “We were able to not only celebrate Hispanic Heritage but also make the students of PCA aware of many Hispanic countries and people that they didn’t know about before.”

This Wednesday, October 5, lower school chapel will feature an Hispanic Heritage Month focus while the Upper School chapel will feature a special speaker (el muy querido Señor Zubia) and the cafeteria will offer a lunch that will feature a Hispanic themed menu!