With the assistance of a hands-on presentation, seniors learned about the dangers of drinking while driving and texting while driving on Oct. 15.

During the event at the high school, Andrew Tipton, manager of the Save a Life Tour, spoke about his past experiences with alcoholism as a high school and college student. He also spoke about an accident he was involved in, caused by a driver who was texting while driving.

“I just ask that you all be responsible and make good decisions,” he said.

After his speech, Tipton invited the students to pledge not to drink and drive or text and drive. He also offered them to try two simulators – one that simulates the effects of drunk driving, and another that helps students understand the consequences of texting while driving.

“It was pretty hard,” said student Vinny Bruno after trying the drunk driving simulator. “I thought it would be easier to do.”

Fellow student Mike Ingemi agreed and said the simulators helped reinforce what he had learned in driver’s education.

Kelly Bennett, who tried the texting while driving simulator, said she couldn’t believe how much the car swerved while she attempted to respond to the texts that the simulator sent her.

“You think you can text and drive, but it is really difficult,” she said.

Principal Dan Holtzman said he invited the Save a Life Tour to the school to teach students not only about drunk driving, but also texting while driving, which is just as important.