The City of Santa Clarita and several community partners are encouraging graduating seniors to wear a white ribbon on graduation day as part of the White Ribbon Campaign, which raises awareness about the importance of driving safe and making it home alive this graduation season.
As part of the program, a Santa Clarita Sheriff’s deputy speaks at each local senior assembly and distributes the white ribbons for students to wear on their gowns during graduation. These white ribbons serve as a reminder to celebrate commencement in a safe and sober way and to remember those local teens lost to reckless driving. Five names will serve as reminders to Santa Clarita Valley teens this 2013 graduation season including Sarah Alarid, Jaime M. Arias, Eric Gilhooley, Dakota DeMott and Derek Millsap.
“Graduation is a time of celebration and we want each and every senior to make it home safe this year,” said Mayor Bob Kellar. “I encourage graduating seniors and community members to wear a white ribbon during graduation as a way of honoring those we have lost and as a pledge to drive safe and act responsibly this graduation season.”
The White Ribbon Campaign began on May 19 and will continue through June 1, 2013. The campaign was developed in 1998 in response to concerns over the number of local teens who lost their lives in vehicular collisions as a result of someone’s bad decision to drive recklessly or while impaired. This White Ribbon campaign is part of the Drive Safe Program, initiated by Frontier Toyota with the assistance of several community organizations including Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, Safe Rides, The Signal and the City of Santa Clarita.
For more information on White Ribbon Week in Santa Clarita, visit HenryMayoGiving.com/Programs-and-Events/White-Ribbon.