A hard lesson at Churchill High

Homecoming weekend spurs new underage drinking initiative

McCoy, 22, was only slightly older than the students in the audience, spoke in the same nonchalant manner, and dressed in the same way. He spoke about his experience as a student at Magruder High School, his stint in the Marine Corps, and his love of partying in College Park.

A chuckle broke through the audience as the students seemed to warm up a bit.

But the real reason for McCoy to be on stage was to talk about something much more serious. In 2005, he drove drunk, fell asleep at the wheel, and hit a post – killing the 17-year-old girl who was riding in his front seat.

‘‘Believe me, you never want to wake up at the wheel and see the neck of a 17-year-old girl going through your windshield,” he told the dead-silent audience.

According to Drawing the Line, a coalition of Montgomery County organizations dedicated to preventing underage drinking, perception of underage drinking as ‘‘illegal and unhealthy” is on the rise. The Montgomery County Police Department strictly enforces underage drinking laws, and also enforces laws that prohibit underage drinking at home, even drinking under parental supervision.

However, administrators at Winston Churchill High are seeking different ways to effectively educate students about underage drinking, especially during homecoming when students may be more likely to drink, said Ellen Bortz, a co-organizer of the assembly.

‘‘We wanted to be as in their faces as possible when they are making those decisions,” said Bortz, who organized the program with Marla Reich, another advocate for underage drinking prevention at the school.

Throughout homecoming week, teachers and parents advised students to be careful and make safe choices throughout the weekend, said Bortz. But the advice seemed more real coming from McCoy, said Jaymi Solomon, a Churchill sophomore who attended homecoming last weekend.

‘‘All my friends were really affected by it,” Solomon said. ‘‘I do think it’s better to hear it from someone your age. You’re able to relate to them and it’s not like you’re being nagged,” Solomon said.

Bortz and Reich organized the assembly as part of the School Community Action Team, an arm of the PTSA that educates students on issues relating to underage drinking, Bortz said. When deciding what kind of program might be best, the PTSA went to students and asked what kind of program might be the most effective to educate kids about underage drinking, said PTSA President Robyn Solomon, Jaymi’s mother. Almost unanimously, the students who were asked said they would prefer to listen to a speaker who was in their own age group, Robyn Solomon said.

‘‘I think it really reached a lot of people,” said Shannon Beam, 21, another speaker at the assembly. ‘‘You could hear a pin drop when [McCoy] finished speaking.”

Beam said she spoke at the assembly to remind students that there can be consequences to underage drinking that don’t include car accidents. She told students about her close friend, who was raped while under the influence.

‘‘A lot of people don’t even realize why the drinking age is 21 – they think it was made by a bunch of old people to prevent kids from having fun,” Beam said.

Robyn Solomon said she hoped students applied the knowledge they learned during homecoming.

‘‘Homecoming is just another reason for teens to party,” Robyn Solomon said. ‘‘If we get through to one child this program was a success.”