On Wed., Apr. 19, sophomore students walked into the gym in a lighthearted mood, with no reason to suspect they would be leaving in solemn silence.

The assembly was the Street Smart program, a program teaching high schoolers the importance of defensive and sober driving. A mixture of graphic media, startling statistics and vivid descriptions of car accident experiences were featured in the presentation.

Lt. Natalie Brown, paramedic for the Tampa Fire and Rescue Department, described the program as real and awakening for many.

“It lets them really see that they’re not invincible and it can really happen to them.” said Brown.

Through a pathos-influence approach, Brown and her partner Ronny Garcia, program coordinator and retired paramedic, focus to stop preventable and premature deaths from car accidents by teaching proper precautions before driving.

The presentations, Garcia said, are scripted. Though the words are different from school to school, the performance and interactive activities follow a scripted guideline created at the beginning of the Street Smart programs.

Garcia has led Street Smart presentations for 18 year at different schools around the country.  

His goal, he said, is to get students thinking about the choices and possibilities of their actions before they commit to one wrong decision.

Due to his longevity in the Street Smart program, Garcia has found tell-tale signs that a presentation is going well.

“I can see it in their eyes, their focus, their listening,” Garcia said. “There’s a look in their face when you can tell they’re getting it, hearing what you’re saying, and the message is getting to them.

Grace Bailey, sophomore, attended the assembly with the rest of her grade. For her, the presentation was very impactful.

“I think it made me more aware of what it’s like to have a drunk driver in a car accident,” Bailey said. “I haven’t drank and driven ever but it definitely made me never want to do it.”

The graphic videos and photos of the program are the main reasons the presentation affected so many in Bailey’s eyes.

“The reality was, of course, gruesome and challenging, but it made people realize that,” Bailey said.

The overall takeaway for Brown and Garcia, though, is to know the lives of students can be saved and deaths can be prevented.

“I know I’m not going to reach every student, but the way I see it is that if I left here knowing that I affected one person, I’ve done my job,” Garcia said.