LAFAYETTE — The scenario plays out at every high school across the country, teenagers gather at a party at a private home.
There is alcohol and everyone is having a good time.
In this case, the mother of one of the students is watching over everything to make sure nothing gets out of hand. What the mother doesn’t realize is she cannot be everywhere and a situation can change in the blink of an eye.
A group of students crash the party and in a split second two girls are in an all-out fight in the living room. One of the girls is knocked unconscious.
It’s bad. Paramedics are called to help her.
A sheriff’s deputy arrives. The girl’s injuries appear serious.
The deputy starts the investigation by gathering the names and telephone numbers of everyone there. The mother is arrested and taken away in handcuffs.
This scenario was a “Reality Party” staged for about 60 adults, many parents in the Allen East School system, and put on by children in the Students Against Destructive Decisions.
“I want parents to learn what teenagers need from parents to help them make the right decisions,” said Kelly Prichard, the adviser for the program and a teacher in the school system.
Amber and Aaron Brown volunteered the use of their home to hold the event. They have two children in the school system and wanted to help out.
Parents taking the tour witnessed 14 different scenes from drinking games, dating violence, fighting and peer pressure.
In another scenario, a girl’s boyfriend approaches her in a bedroom about having sex. She said she was not ready but he refused to take no for an answer and attacked her.
The event is held as an educational tool for parents but it can be an eye-opener, to say the least. While there are some parents who are naive to the events happening in their child’s life, that is not the case for many others, Prichard said.
“They look the other way. I think they have a clue but they don’t believe it until they see it. They may suspect it but not completely believe it,” Prichard said.
The decisions a child makes today can change the path of his or her life or that of another person. It could be a serious injury, pregnancy or even death, Prichard said.
Keith Baumgartner is the principal at Allen East High School and he’s also a father to two students at his school. While he has seen a lot in 20 years as an educator including attending the funerals of students killed as a result of poor decisions, he said such events are a reality check.
“When you deal with alcohol it changes the mindset. Some of the best kids can make some of the poorest decisions when they have that influence,” Baumgartner said. “That whole mindset of how easy someone can get talked in, when you think you have equipped your kids with skills to know or how to avoid situations they still can be exposed to it and succumb to that peer pressure.”
The school’s SADD team is doing a good job educating parents and letting them know what reality is, Baumgartner said.
“I like the fact our SADD team can get out and provide this level of education to parents and let them know because sometimes you can kind of get numb or turn a blind eye to what the kids are doing or be overly trusting at times and not really know some of the things they can be involved in or around,” Baumgartner said.
Prichard tells parents to be involved in the lives of their children.
“Kids want their parents involved. That’s what they told me over and over. They don’t want their parents to be their friends, they want their parents to be their parents and guide them,” Prichard said.
Allen County Sheriff Deputy and Student Resource Officer Damian Tibbs said parents and children can get in serious trouble if their actions from a party hurt or kill someone. Parents who host parties can face up to six months in jail for furnishing alcohol to teenagers even if it were approved by the parents of the teenagers.
Tibbs urged children to talk to him, a parent or school staff member about such parties before someone makes a poor decision that hurts themselves or someone else.
“You don’t know how many lives you could affect positively,” Tibbs said.
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