Safety Bracelets

On April 7th, we went to Wilson Elementary School and did safety bracelet presentations with the 1st graders. We made kits for them, and had the students put a colored bead on a string of elastic and we tied the bracelets around their wrists for them. Each bead represents something they can do to be safe:

- Heart bead stands for caring
- Green bead stands for bike safety
- Red bead stands for safely crossing the street
- Yellow bead stands for school bus safety
- Blue bead stands for seat belt safety

The 1st graders really enjoyed our interactive presentations, especially the singing! :)


A video from a previous presentation is available on our www.teendriver411.com website!

PROM Week

The night of Friday April 24th was Anoka High School's PROM night!

The whole week we had a crash car on the front hill of our school. The car belonged to Danielle Pound. Earlier this year we had Danielle's car in our local parade. This is when we met Danielle's father. Danielle's mother, Melody Richards, created a website about her daughter: Danielle Pound. Melody Richards came to Anoka High School on Wednesday, April 22nd and spoke to our junior social studies classes about her daughter and making good decisions, especially during PROM.



On Thursday, April 23rd Connie and Nathan Backstrom came to Anoka High School to speak to our senior social studies classes about their sons and what happened to them along with how there are consequences for your actions. You can find out more about them at: The Backstrom Family.

Then on Friday, the day of PROM, we put on our annual Ghost Out. Every 33 minutes a student is killed in an alcohol-related crash each day; this is about 12 students during our school day. We had a Grim Reaper who went to a pre-planned student's class room every 33 minutes and gave them a t-shirt and a rose which was to represent that they were killed and could not talk for the rest of the day. The t-shirts said on the back, "I was 1/12 killed in an alcohol-related crash today." and so on.



Thankfully, none of our students were injured and we did not have any serious problems! :)

Washington D.C.

On April 23 Natalie Hayford spoke at a press event for The Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act (STANDUP Act) in Washington D.C. along with a police officer, a mother, a doctor, insurance agents, and two members of Congress.

You can find out more about the STANDUP Act and watch the entire press event at: saferoads4teens.org



Natalie also met with Senator Amy Klobuchar, Congressman James Oberstar, and Keith Ellison's LA for transportation.

WCCO Radio

On April 15th, Natalie Hayford and Laura Knoll were part of a webcast with Gordy Pehrson and Orrin Kessel for the BestPrep Organization. The four of them along with many others are all working on a campaign called "100 Deadliest Days," which ranges from PROM season to Labor Day. These 100 days is when teen crashes occur the most, which is why it is so important that this time frame is acknowledged.

Information on the campaign and a link to the webcast is available at: 100 Deadliest Days.

Day at the Capitol

On March 31, Anoka SADD members and three students from Crossroads Alternative High School went to the Minnesota State Capitol for an event with MADD Minnesota.

10 AM - 11:45 AM ~ Meetings with Legislators about the importance of the Primary Seat Belt Law




12 PM - 12:30 PM ~ Press Conference in the Rotunda where we spoke about the Primary Seat Belt Law and did "Chillin With Your Seat Belt!"
Jake Bazoff from Crossroads also spoke about the death of his friend Steve Sisco and really pushed for the seat belt law, Kelly Milbradt and Jesse Preston held a poster with a picture of Steve with a poem and some other things on it






1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ~ Tour of the MN State Capitol Building



We hope to have made an impact and that Minnesota will hopefully make not wearing a seat belt illegal for everyone! :)

Andover Drivers Education Presentations

On March 24, Anoka SADD members did the same presentations at a neighboring high school that we did at our school.

Anoka Drivers Education Class Presentations

On March 17, Anoka SADD members did an interactive presentation in our drivers education classes.

A lot of the students enjoyed it and will remember the activities we did when they are in the same situations in real life.

Friends are Forever

Along with the surveys, the students signed hands with safe driving tips.

We then stapled all of the hands together and hung them up in the main commons of our school so everybody could see them!