By JT Schneider & Grant Ross
On Wednesday May 5th, over
10,000 students from 18 schools in Dewitt, McLean, and Livingston counties
attended the Operation Cool Grand Finale held at Normal Community West High
School. Forty of those students were
from Olympia. Operation Cool students
are asked to sign contracts that state they will: wear seat belts, not drive
under the influence, and not text or use cell phones while driving.
Since Tri-County Operation Cool
began in 1997, there have been more than 100 confirmed traffic crashes where
serious injury was avoided because of seat belt use by a teenage driver. The
program year ends with the grand finale where one student wins a new Mitsubishi
vehicle. Additional prizes are also given
out with items like cash, laptops, TV’s, and gift cards.
This year’s Operation Cool finale
was hosted by 101.5 WBNQ’s Susan Saunders. It also had some key speakers with
compelling stories that heavily impacted the student crowd.
Not only did Olympia students
compete for prizes, one of the lucky students was selected to have a chance to
win a car. Junior Emily Humphrey from OHS was chosen to go up on stage and
received a 1 in 19 chance at winning a brand new Mitsubishi.
There were also lots of other prizes
given out to students such as Grant Ross who won a $20 Casey’s gift card and JT
Schneider who received $15 gift card to McDonalds. Senior Wyatt Crump said, “I am happy to take
home what I won from Operation Cool, and I now know more about safety.” Crump won a Bluetooth speaker.
Emily Humphrey received $100 on top
of her chance to get a new car. Emily Humphrey said, “Although I didn’t win the
car I’m happy, I was selected for the
opportunity to go.”
Students at the assembly had many
emotions though out the night, staying quiet to hear the guest speakers and
also cheering loud for their schoolmates. Although not everyone walked away
with a prize, everyone did get to hear what the speakers had to say.
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