Two CHS students ‘die’ in mock accident

As the moon partially extinguished the sun’s glow Monday afternoon, a mock accident staged by Clarendon High School “snuffed out” the lives of two students.

The solar eclipse captured the attention of millions across the country, but as the sky darkened, it gave an exceptionally eerie feeling to the scene setup behind the Clarendon CISD D-wing.

The Shattered Dreams program illustrated the dangers of drinking and driving by staging a crash and the resulting efforts of first responders in full view of the student body, who had been given glasses were released from class to see the eclipse.

The drama that unfolded was fully explained Tuesday morning during a “memorial” service at the First Baptist Church, where friends and families mourned a real sense of loss for seniors Harrison Howard and Jared Musick, who had been pronounced “dead” Monday afternoon.

The situation had Kinzie Harred and Elyza Rodriguez portray two students who had been drinking during their lunch hour. Harred was driving and Rodriquez was her passenger when their speeding vehicle ran into a pickup driven by Harrison. He was thrown through the windshield and killed instantly while his three passengers were injured. Musick, thrown to the parking lot, was airlifted but later died.

Heston Seay and Jaxan McAnear were extricated from the backseat of the pickup and lived through the accident.

Rodriguez was hysterical after regaining consciousness, and Harred was given a mock field sobriety test, arrested, and booked into the Donley County Jail. She later commented that it was crazy how one decision could cause all of this. In the simulation, she was charged with two counts of intoxicated manslaughter and two counts of vehicular assault and sentenced to prison for her felonies.

Shattered Dreams is designed to educate students, parents, and the community about the serious issue of underage drinking and driving. The program provides realistic experiences, encouraging students to make positive choices. The program is typically held prior to a school’s prom, when teenagers are most likely to consume alcoholic beverages. TxDOT partners with local law enforcement and first responders to provide the program. TxDOT’s Traffic Safety Specialists work with schools who are interested in presenting the program to their students.

In addition to the six students with active rolls in the accident, eight other students were removed from their classes throughout the day to represent the fact that an average of eight teens a day die in the US from alcohol related accidents.

CHS Student Council President Courtlyn Conkin, who helped lead this year’s Shattered Dreams program, dressed up as the Grim Reaper and removed selected students from class each period as a heartbeat flatlined on the PA system. Those students were Dalton Coles, Tristan Richie, Gracie Clark, Colton Benson, Kennedy Hays, Tandie Cummins, Morgan Johnston, and Levi Gates.

Also participating in the program were a film crew comprised of Jacob Murillo, Avery Halsey, Ben Estlack, Cutter Seay, and Waite Dushay.

All students involved in the program were secluded from Monday morning through the memorial service, driving home a sense of loss between the kids and their friends and families.

Student testimonials at the memorial service demonstrated the emotional impact that the two-day program had on the teens.

The program included assistance from the Associated Ambulance Authority, the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department, the Department of Public Safety, Robertson Funeral Directors, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Judges Pat White and Sarah Hatley, and Northwest Texas Hospital’s LifeStar helicopter, which landed near the scene.

Texas leads the nation in alcohol-related deaths among 15- to 20-year-olds, and one person was killed in 2022 in an alcohol-related accident every seven hours and one minute.