Prom Promise Event Brings Together KO, Seton-LaSalle Students

Laughter and conversation turned quiet Thursday morning as students lining the hillside of Seton-LaSalle High School witnessed a staged scene they hope not to experience in real life.

A mock drunk-driving car accident, safely staged in the school’s parking lot as a Prom Promise event, allowed students from both Seton-LaSalle and Keystone Oaks high schools to witness a possible outcome of a destructive decision.

The carefully constructed scene documented everything from the moment a group of teens arrives at a ruined car carrying their friends, to the arrival of emergency crews, and their efforts to save the passengers. A final, heart-wrenching moment plays out when an officer tells a concerned father at the scene that his son did not survive the crash.

The accident was staged and the victims were actors from the two schools, but students said they knew the scene in front of them represented something that could be very real, especially with celebration events such as prom and graduation in the near future.

“It wasn’t real, but I will never forget seeing my brother lying in a body bag,” said Seton-LaSalle senior Sarah Mallon of Mt. Lebanon. Mallon and her brother, James, as well as their father, Steve, were actors for the mock crash scene.

“You don’t have to act too much when you see a scene like this,” Steve Mallon said.

Juniors and seniors from both Seton-LaSalle and Keystone Oaks High School attended the event, which was organized by the SADD programs of each school, in conjunction with local police and fire departments. 

“I hope this experience made everyone have that second thought,” said Keystone Oaks junior and SADD president Alysha Kronz. “They saw their peers with injuries, and the reactions around them. Hopefully they’ll think, ‘what if that was me? Or my sister? Or my brother?’”

Senior Alex Schilken, the SADD president at Seton-LaSalle, also helped organize the event. She said there might be a rivalry between Seton-LaSalle and Keystone Oaks when sports teams are on the field, but in a situation like a crash, everyone is equal.

“So many kids come to Seton from different areas, so driving is a big thing,” she said. “There’s a rivalry between the schools, but really, so many of us are friends. There are kids going to both proms.”

It took about three months to organize the event, and involved several local emergency organizations, including police departments from Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon and Dormont, the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department, Medical Rescue Team South, LifeFlight and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Joshua Stewart of MRTSA said the organization responds to two or three fatal crashes per year throughout the six communities it covers. He said the number of accidents involving teenagers increases around prom and graduation time.

“It may not always be alcohol related, but just from distractions,” he said. “Texting is a big thing right now. Even just changing the radio station, or joking around.”

He also said the message seems to stick with teens who witness the mock crash scene.

“I’ve been a medic at Kennywood, and I’ve had high school students come up to me there and say, ‘Hey, you’re the one who did the Prom Promise thing at my high school,’” Stewart said. “For them to recognize me first, and then come talk to me, this must have made an impression.”

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