When teenagers see their fellow classmates dead and severely injured because of distracted driving, it makes a big impact. Precious lives taken so easily because of one mistake makes it obvious why Etowah does the Ghost Out every year: to educate students about distracted driving and to scare them.

“I’m okay with scaring them. I would prefer every student to show up to prom and get home from prom safe,” Dan Snipes, assistant principal said.

This year’s Ghost Out used three crash cars instead of two, and more students were allowed to participate. Seniors Nicole Booth, Lisa Diaz, Bronson Rechsteiner, Cameron Shockey and Courtney Shockey were some of the 18 students who participated in the event.

“Some of these cars that students drive, if they got in accidents, it would be ugly. That’s why I put a lot of emphasis on this being done right by people I trust,” Snipes said.

The most emotional part of the rally was when Cameron Shockey kept running back to her dead twin’s body, pleading and screaming with the firefighter saying “there must be something you can do.”

A speech by Molly Welch, a crash survivor, was given at the end of Ghost Out. She had suffered major brain damage to the left side of her brain, and had to relearn how talk, eat, and walk. She stressed how important it was to not be distracted while driving, because serious damage could result from that one mistake.

The rally was very emotional for many students, and most walked away with tears in their eyes, never to forget the whole experience.