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Show A-12 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, May 24-27, 2014 The Park Record PCHS seniors warned ‘Don't drink and drive' Annual docudrama shows seniors fatal consequences By Alexandria González The Park Record Photo courtesy of Steve Joyce The Park City Fire Department assists in the reenactment of a fatal drunk driving accident Thursday, May 22, to warn Park City High School seniors not to make bad decisions while celebrating graduation in two weeks. Thursday morning, Park City High School seniors faced the reality of poor decisions during the school's annual "docudrama." The event at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Monitor Drive is a reenactment of a serious car accident resulting from four teenagers drinking and driving and comes at a time in the seniors' lives filled with celebrations that could lead to a real, similar event. "It's prom season and graduation, so we think it is time to talk to our seniors about those celebrations and to be thinking about making good decisions and choices," said Samantha Walsh, the high school's intervention counselor. "We are hoping our students will watch this and be a good influence on each other versus influencing each other to make bad decisions." The reenactment portrayed the story of four seniors -Mateja Lund, Bridger Bush, Mark Benson and Annabelle Dunnwho made the decision to allow a friend that had been drinking to take the wheel. They crashed into a woman and her friends who were driving home from the movies on S.R. 224. The woman went on to suffer permanent damage to her right leg and arm. Lund, playing the part of one of the seniors, died at the scene of the accident. An Air Med helicopter and an ambulance took the victims of the car crash to safety while a police officer performed a sobriety test on the teen driver. He was arrested, and Lund, in her role as a victim, was taken from the scene in a hearse. "They just briefed us beforehand and told us what we would be doing and where we would be sitting and things like that," Lund said. "Other than that, there was really no practice, which I think really influenced making it feel that much more real. It was not rehearsed at all, so it was just in the moment." Principal Bob O'Connor has been involved in the production for 15 years, and he said the reaction to the intense scene always has the same effect on students. "Any time you get a class this size, a little over 300 students, to be totally silent while Please see Annual, A-13 PCHS recognizes seniors' dedication to education Seniors with GPAs in top 10 percent honored on Tuesday By Alexandria González The Park Record With graduation fast approaching, most Park City High School seniors have figured out where they are going to college in the fall as well as what they will be studying. Seniors with grade point averages in the top 10 percent of their graduating class were honored Wednesday night while their post-high school plans were announced. Harvard University, the University of California - Los Angeles, Columbia University and Vanderbilt are several of the colleges PCHS seniors will be attending in the fall, a dis- play of the hard work the students have put in to their education over the last 13 years. "I am glad to be finishing my years here, and it will be interesting moving on," said Melissa Ruth, a senior and part of the top 10 percent. "I can't wait to see what the future brings." The students were asked to choose a teacher they found to be the most inspirational, and their teacher was asked to join the student in front of the audience as Maureen Amendola read aloud the student's fondest memory of them. Several teachers were called up to the front for numerous different students, and memories ranged from dissecting roadkill in environmental science and biology teacher Ed Mulick's class to "making terrible soap" in chemistry and physics teacher Janice Jones' class. Mulick said he was honored to be chosen by so many different students, because it is a testament to the relationships he has built with them throughout their high school careers. "If you've ever seen ‘Blackfish,' you know there's a scene where [killer whale] Tillikum grabs his trainer by the foot and drags him down to the bottom of the tank, brings him back up and then takes him down again, several times. That is what it's like teaching these kids," he said, laughing. "I mean that intellectually. They are so much smarter than us that they could take us out at any moment, but they don't." Some of the areas of study the seniors will be focusing on in college include women's studies, archaeology, biomedical engineering and environmental science. Valedictorian Eleanor Burton will be attending Johns Hopkins University to study biophysics while saPlease see Seniors, A-13 Christopher Reeves/Park Record Park City High School biology and environmental science teacher Jim Fleming, left, accepts a photograph of him and one of his students, Liam Riley, from principal, Bob O'Connor at Tuesday's ceremony at the high school to honor the PCHS seniors with grade point averages in the top 10 percent of their class. Fleming was chosen as Riley's most inspirational teacher at school his senior year. Rare Front Row Bear Hollow Home With Unobstructed Views! ONE CANNOT THINK WELL, LOVE WELL, SLEEP WELL, IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL. Offered At $690,000 The great room provides perfect living space with big windows to the views. Fully furnished. Easily walk to Redstone restaurants and theater. 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