My project was about drinking and driving, my teammate and I made two trifolds to present our work. Our actions began with us making an instagram account (@n0_drunk_driving_), soon after that we posted our drunk driving proposal to youth voices, made flyers and posted them around our school, presented to parents at our school and 8th graders, we also sent thank you emails to the parent academy and an email to Madd (mothers against drunk driving).
Being an upstander to me means fighting for what you believe in but its for others too and not only for yourself. Most of the time people are selfish and only want things that are only beneficial for them, people need to change and be upstanders instead of being bystanders.
What did you learn about yourself as a student/ person in this project
Throughout this project I learned that I can get things done but only if i put my mind into it. Procrastination is something that has become part of me since middle school, I eventually want to get rid of that because if that keeps going i will never accomplish what i want.
What did you learn as an upstander?
I learned that i can make a change only if i work hard for it and teach others because in the upstander unit my teammate and i faced similar problems with having an alcoholic family member and others might be facing the same thing and don’t talk about it, when we presented to the parent academy after they said they never think about drinking and driving that much but what’s worse is drinking in general because nowadays anyone could do it and access alcohol anywhere.
Next steps you would like to take as an upstander for this issue or another issue
Since the project is over I want to keep posting and talking more about Madd because people need to discuss more about this topic because alcohol is easy to access, and it’s an addictive substance. People nowadays don’t even think or care about what alcohol does to you. An important statistic is “ Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes—that’s one person every 48 minutes in 2017.” this statistic will change as the years go by.
Advice to other upstanders, students looking to create a change
I say to never give up even if it seems like no one supports you, eventually people will listen to you and to work hard because if you dont you wont reach your goals. I learned that i can get my work done but only if i put my mind to it.
