MADD Prom Workshop for Teens

Prom season. Graduation parties. It’s so exciting for the Seniors in the local high school to finally face release from 13 years of “enforced” classroom experience. Sigh.

In all those years, how many quizzes were taken? How many papers were written? How many evenings were filled with stress over stuffing into their brains the historical dates that someone else thought it was important for them to know. Now it’s nearly over and the end is in sight!

All year long the girls think about prom: what dress to wear, and who will be their date or will they have the nerve to go it alone? It’s a night to be a perfectly adorned princess, and tiaras are actually not out of place. The guys, on the other hand, probably wait until the month beforehand to even think about it.

Here in Baltimore, the volunteers at MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) thought about it way ahead of time. Part of their effort to challenge teens on the dangers of drinking on prom or graduation night included a free workshop on Thursday morning April 21, 2011 at the University of Maryland’s R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

The purpose of the workshop was to provide parents with information that would help them talk with their teenage children about alcohol. It was just a 30 minute workshop, held just before the prom and graduation season hits its height.

Teens are so excited about these milestones in their lives, and very aware of the change in their status that will occur. One can imagine there being a place on Facebook where they could change their status from “kid” to “adult.” And unfortunately many teens think that drinking is a part of being an adult, and therefore they may choose to illegally try it. And they may think that they can handle driving a car at the same time.

One of the speakers at the meeting was Lt. Col. Pete Landon of the field operations bureau of the Maryland State Police. One can only imagine how many awful stories he must have about how teens drank and drove and ended their “kid” status with death instead. Another speaker was Caroline Cash, the executive director of MADD Maryland, who no doubt shared the statistics if not the gripping accounts of parents getting the devastating phone calls from the police.

We can only hope the parents spoke and the teens actually listened.