Schools

Danbury is Number One (Or Two) Check the Leader Board



Danbury High School is winning or in close second in a nationwide State Farm Insurance contest that could land the high school $100,000 and a Kelly Clarkson concert. The contest is designed to make students safer drivers by asking them to pledge not to text and drive or speed and drive.

Danbury High School was neck and neck all day Monday with Western Dubuque High School in Epworth, Iowa. DHS starting out in front, and it fell to second place by the afternoon. At 9:41 p.m., Danbury was again in front.

The contest works this way. People go to http://www.celebratemydrive.com/, and follow the red link that says, "Make My Commitment Now," which lets them vote for their school. They add their email, and answer two questions.

Yesterday's questions were what is the percentage of accidents in which speed played a role. People had four options, and 30 percent was correct. The second question was which President was stopped and ticketed for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage. (Grant.) There is no penalty for getting the answers wrong.

Students worked at Danbury Fair mall Monday evening collecting emails and voting. They have been talking to students each day since Friday, when voting began. The contest ends Friday.

Former Assistant Principal Jessie Ballenger mentioned this State Farm contest to Marketing teacher and DECA Advisor Carmela Calafiore last spring as a good community service project for the fall 2013. That's when the ground work began on winning the contest. Students bought the URL, www.votedanbury.com. Students tried to figure out who had the largest social network in the city, and they asked Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton to help. He has been tweeting about it ever since it started.

Former DHS Graduate John Leary, now a student at Western Connecticut State University, returned to DHS to film a public service announcement that is now playing at Loew's Theaters in Danbury, telling people to vote. Students worked the theaters over the weekend to catch people as they left their film.

Nick Goetz, a senior and member of DECA, said Danbury High School lost several students to driving accidents over the last few years, and each time, "It had a terrible impact on the school. We're trying to prevent this from happening again."

Five members in the senior class were injured in a car accident this fall, and both Goetz and Nick Mortara said that accident taught students driving is a very serious business. The accident inspired the team work harder.

"We've met every day for the last month," Goetz said.

The DECA students have a saying they learned from their advisor, who they call Miss Cal. "We meet every day and after school."

"They're phenomenal," said Superintendent of Schools Sal Pascarella. "I feel confident we can reach out to more people and get back into first."


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