On May 7 and May 8, 2012, the Pacific Coast School and the Charles Hayes Secondary School students were privileged to a presentation done by John Westhaver.
John is a burn survivor who was involved in a car collision and talks to youths about the incident. The driver along with the two rear passengers of the vehicle involved in the collision were killed and John was the only survivor. The driver was sober but because of the distracting and intoxicated passengers he was speeding. The vehicle hit the ditch, rolling numerous times before landing in a telephone pole and lighting up on fire.
John did a great job with the presentation and the message hit home with a lot of the youths.
"You could have heard a pin drop in the room filled with about 150 youths," said Cpl. House of the audience who were so quiet and attentive during the presentation.
This initiative was sponsored by ICBC and is in collaboration with the Community Prevention Education Continuum (CPEC). There are numerous members of the Prince Rupert community who are working towards a common goal which is having healthy youths by providing initiatives about drug awareness and prevention to all the various grades in the schools. CPEC was initiated last year and is taking some time to develop but with some patience and efforts, the community should be able to start seeing a difference.
If you want to make a difference with the youths in your community or you think that perhaps an already existing project or initiative is in line with CPEC, please contact Cpl. Anne House of the RCMP's Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness Service at 250-627-2017.