The junior and senior students of Hart High School were taught the dangers of drunk driving when it was their turn to once again host the “Every 15 Minutes” program on campus Thursday morning.

The two-day event educates students on the consequences that come with drunk driving through the live simulation. The situation plays out the aftermath of a deadly drunken driving crash, including the sights of their fellow classmates lying lifeless in crashed vehicles.

Some students at the scene are pronounced “dead,” while another student playing the drunk driver is run through field sobriety tests before being “arrested.”

“There’s always a very serious atmosphere, and our students have done a very good job taking this process very seriously,” said John Turner, Hart High School assistant principal. “It’s been something that the number of cases and incidents across the country have actually decreased over the time that this (event) has been taking place.”

Students and staff members are also pulled out of classrooms every 15 minutes by the “Grim Reaper” to symbolize that they’ve been killed. All students participating in the event will later be taken to the courthouse to participate in a mock trial before going on to visit the Youth Grove and Eternal Valley. All participating students then spend the night in a hotel to remain secluded from their friends and family.

“Even if it’s a simulation, the seriousness of losing their friends for basically 24 hours; when you lose your friends and they aren’t there, they don’t have cell phones, they don’t have access for 24 hours,” said Turner. “It’s literally like those friends are gone, and as a result of that process, I think it has a very serious impact.”

The event will end Friday with an assembly that will include guest speakers speaking to the students of how they lost their loved ones in drunk driving related accidents.