“I have a future!” said the backs of T-shirts worn by San Marcos Academy students as they watched their friends act out a tragic scene Thursday.

Twenty six students, the Grim Reaper and a number of volunteers worked together to send a clear message – don’t drink and drive.

“Everybody has a lot of potential. You have a lot of potential to do a lot of things and it’s just so easy to make a bad choice and then it’s all gone,” Nolan Rutland, 17, said.

During the Shattered Dreams program, the SMA campus was transformed one student at a time on Thursday as the Grim Reaper roamed the hallways and periodically removed students from their classrooms to become the “living dead.”

“You hear the heartbeat over the PA system and then the next thing you know the Grim Reaper comes in, taps you and then you just come down and get made up and for the rest of the day you can’t talk or interact with people,” Chloe Rocha, 16, said.

Each of the living dead students represented a fatality at the hands of a drunk driver. They wore white and black makeup and were to remain silent for the rest of the day.

Hays County Deputy Mike Theleon notified the students of each fatality and a counselor read an obituary for each student.

The most dramatic point of the day came when the student body witnessed a mock drunk driving accident.

Five students were made up to look like they suffered major injuries due to a two-car wreck and real emergency workers arrived on the scene.

“My best friend was the person that played the female that her neck was cut open, so that was very strange. It kind of hurt to see her get carried away in an ambulance. It would definitely be very traumatic if it had been real,” Daylon Hethcock, 17, said.

“It’s a great effort I think, and if we can get the message across to them that this can happen to them, that they need to think before they drink, they need to realize that even though they’re at a young age they think they’re invincible, that something serious can happen. If we can get that message across even just to one or two then I think it’s worth all the effort,” Theleon said.

“I think people should take it seriously, but that’s my prayer that people actually do make the right decisions,” Hethcock said.



Three of the mock victims were “treated” and taken to medical facilities, while one was pronounced dead on the scene by Justice of the Peace Beth Smith, who volunteered to be a part of the scene. The remaining victim was supposed to air care lifted to CTMC on by Air Evac, but 40 mph gusting winds prevented the flight. He was instead put in an ambulance.

“It was pretty dramatic. I never really thought about it that much, but then seeing people I know in it, and seeing all the blood and all the ambulances and everything, it really took effect on me,” said Rocha.

SMA communications director Shelley Henry said the purpose of the exercise, which took more than six months to prepare, was to “show the kids the reality of drinking and driving and making good choices.”

The lesson, said Theleon, wasn’t just for teens.

“They don’t have to be the one with the alcohol or even with the group of kids that partake in the alcohol. They can be an innocent person just driving down the road coming to school with their parents, and it’s the other guy on the street that’s drunk and causes the accident, that it can effect their life and change it dramatically,” he said.

Participants spent the night at T Bar M Ranch to debrief and hear from a family who was impacted by a drunk driver. When students returned this morning, a mock memorial service was staged with loved ones of the living dead.

“It’s a great effort I think, and if we can get the message across to them that this can happen to them, that they need to think before they drink, they need to realize that even though their at a young age they think they’re invincible, that something serious can happen. If we can get that message across even just to one or two then I think it’s worth all the effort,” said Theleon.

“I think people should take it seriously, but that’s my prayer that people actually do make the right decisions,” added Hethcock.

The Hays County Sheriff’s department, San Marcos EMS, South Hays Fire Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Justice of the Peace and the Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission worked with SMA to produce the Shattered Dreams program.