Her thumb frantically searches for the send button as she tries to tell John she is on her way. Next thing she knows she has been ejected from the vehicle, leaving her friends wondering, “where could she be?”

Despite laws and regulations in states across America, texting and driving remains a prominent issue with the probability of someone behind the wheel crashing because of texting is one in four. Teenagers admit to breaking the law, but yet continue the dangerous act so these teens took it upon themselves to remind their peers the potential consequences.

“Doing this PSA was a way for us to get a message across to young people of the effect of texting and driving,” junior Kellie Farren said. “Mr. Ashley had the class pick a contest to enter our PSA in and ours ended up getting chosen by Courageous Persuaders. The requirements were a 30 second video about texting and driving and the rest was evaluated on shock value and quality.”

According to the about section of their YouTube channel, the primary objective of the Courageous Persuaders scholarship competition is to raise awareness and change attitudes about the dangers of underage drinking among high school students. A secondary objective is to expose young students such as middle schoolers to positive role models like high school students taking a stand on deadly issues.

“We chose this topic to execute because there are a lot of PSA’s about drinking and driving,” junior Shea Dickens said. “It is just as important, so we wanted to make an impact on people to get them to really see the importance of this issue. I played the role of acting which was really hard because it was freezing cold and raining and I had to lay on the ground with blood on me trying not to blink. But I am proud of us for getting the message across to people everywhere and winning this scholarship.”

A ceremony was held in place to announce the winner of the 20 awards. Each individual who submitted work was present in hopes to be awarded. Dickens, Farren, and Miller sat with fingers crossed as Detroit Auto Dealers Association and Courageous Persuaders presented the Dangers of Texting While Driving National Award.

“The scholarship was $2,000 in total,” Dickens said. “It was nationwide including over 700 entries, so it was tough competition.”

Junior Brianna Miller was also involved in creating the public service announcement. Together, each of the students gained the scholarship to put toward their college education.