During an extended homeroom period on Thursday, sophomores, juniors, and seniors heard presentations from two fathers, both of whom lost a child through driving accidents, sponsored by the BSM Knightlife group.

Students first heard a presentation from Vijay Dixit, who lost his daughter Shreya, a 2006 BSM alum, in a distracted driving accident. Dixit urged students to avoid distracted driving and to take a pledge to be responsible on the road. His fund, the Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation, will be holding a walk to raise awareness for the cause of distracted driving on Sunday, October 12 in Eden Prairie.

John Cummings, founder of Minnesotans for Safe Driving, also spoke to the students, sharing the story of his son Phil, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1994. Cummings founded his organization to raise awareness of drunk, distracted, and reckless driving and to work with families of those who have lost loved ones through any of the previous reasons. His organization placed a demolished car from a drunk driving accident outside the main entrance of BSM on Thursday to further raise awareness for the cause.

BSM’s Knightlife group, a student group dedicated to living a healthy, safe, and chemical-free life, organized this event in the hopes of preventing distracted and drunk driving amongst the students at BSM.  “Driver’s education classes help students to become safe drivers, but Knightlife wants to do something in addition to the drivers education program, in hopes that BSM students will be committed to driving without distractions and without the influence of chemicals,” guidance counselor and Knightlife adviser Mr. Fran Roby said.