SADD sponsor Dr. Kay Hargett, Red Bay High School principal Kenny Sparks, assistant principal Jeff Madden, and members of RBHS SADD accept their prize from placing second in the national Allstate Act Out Loud Rally contest. Photo by Brandi Miller.

By Brandi Miller

For the FCT

The Red Bay High School chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) is one of the most active organizations on campus.

The awards and recognition of this club are many and prestigious, and the 2014 school year proved to be no exception.

The RBHS SADD chapter placed second nationally in the Allstate Act Out Loud rally competition for the rally they held on the school campus on April 2. First place went to Cookeville High School in Cookeville, Tenn.

This is the seventh year for this event across the country but the first in which RBHS has ever participated.

“I am extremely proud that we placed second in this event with it being the first year we have ever participated,” Red Bay High School principal Kenny Sparks said.

“I am looking forward to building on this past year’s success for the upcoming rally this spring. We will be asking the community to once again help by setting up booths and demonstrations.”

More than 120,000 teens across the country participated in rallies in this nationwide event held in the spring. The focus of each rally was to raise awareness about safe teen driving.

All participating schools’ rallies were judged based on criteria, including involvement of student body, strength of teen safe driving messages, creativity of activities, and community and school administration involvement.

“If it helped one student make better decisions while driving, it is totally worth it,” SADD sponsor Kay Hargett said.

The rally at Red Bay, which took place on the RBHS football field, provided many different activities for students to participate in that demonstrated how dangerous distracted and drunk driving can be.  Texting while riding a tricycle, shooting a basketball while texting, and throwing a football through a hole while wearing beer goggles were a few of the activities students had the opportunity to try.  Driving a golf cart through an obstacle course while wearing beer goggles was also a featured activity at the rally.

As Sparks mentioned earlier, the community was also a huge presence at the rally by setting up different booths and demonstrations. The Alabama State Troopers had a car with a test dummy in the driver and passenger seat that simulated the tragic consequences of being thrown from a car.

“We all worked so hard on this event and I am so glad that it was such a success,” SADD member Amber Ginn said.

“Dr. Hargett put a lot of work into this. I am really looking forward to the rally for this year in the spring.”

For being selected second in the national competition, the SADD chapter received a monetary prize of $2,000. An additional $1,000 was also awarded for their T-shirt design.

Third place was awarded to Royal Palm Beach High School in Royal Palm Beach, Fla.

Anyone who wishes to view the video that was submitted for the contest can go to actoutloud.com and scroll down to find Red Bay High School.