| "Shattered Dreams" is a two-day, school-based program that promotes responsible decision-making among high school students regarding underage drinking and impaired driving (driving after drinking or riding with a drinking driver) by showing them how irresponsible choices can end all dreams. The program was developed by the Bexar County D.W.I. Task Force Advisory Board on Underage Drinking in 1998 as an expansion of the "Every 15 Minutes" program introduced in Chico, California. The "Every 15 Minutes" program was started by the Chico Police Department and named to signify the number of alcohol-related fatalities in the United States during the mid-nineties. The "Shattered Dreams" program emphasizes the results of alcohol-related crashes: the shattered dreams of those who drive after drinking, the innocent victims, and their friends and families. "Shattered Dreams" is designed to be a comprehensive drinking and impaired driving prevention program that involves the school administration and faculty, students, parents, community organizations, law enforcement, emergency medical services, and area hospitals in the planning and implementation of the activities. Due to the comprehensive nature of the program, planning with these organizations usually begins six months prior to the main two-day event. The partnership between the school and community organizations serves as a foundation for follow-up activities to reinforce the program's prevention messages.
Since its inception, the developers of Shattered Dreams have collaborated with injury prevention and behavioral researchers to better understand how the program influences young people, their parents, community members and school systems. The result has been the application of behavioral theories that shed light on the problems of underage drinking and impaired driving as well as how people change after participating in the program.
The "Shattered Dreams" program involves the dramatization of an alcohol-related crash on or near a high school campus, complete with police and EMS response, emergency room treatment, family notifications, and the arrest and booking of the driver. The crash scene drama is played out before the student body during a school day. Throughout the day other elements of the "docu-drama" unfold. To give students a better understanding of the number of D.W.I. related deaths, an individual dressed as the "Grim Reaper" appears periodically throughout the school day to select a new victim.
The victims are taken out of class, made-up in white faces and then returned to their classrooms to continue their day. By the end of the day, every student has one or more "dead" classmates present in the classroom, and on this note the school day ends.
The next morning a wrap-up assembly is held featuring those who played roles in the previous day's drama, including the "crash" victims, the drunk driver, their parents, and participating law enforcement and medical personnel. Impact statements from community members whose lives have been affected by teenage alcohol use and drunk driving bring closure to the program and reinforce its dual message for the teenage audience -- Don't drink until you are 21, and never drink and drive.
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Shattered Dreams 
