Dear School and Community Members,
Thomson High School would like to thank school personnel and community volunteers for making our Spring 2012 Ghost Out event a success. EMS, City and County Fire Rescue, State Troopers, Beggs Funeral Home, and Air Med all worked together in a coordinated effort with faculty and staff at THS to make the entire day one of awareness for auto safety. The Ghost Out event culminated a year-long CRASH theme: Critical Reasoning for Auto Safety Habits. Local EMS, fire rescue and state troopers visited classrooms and talked to students about what happens at accident scenes and answered questions from students about their chosen careers.
Mr. Andy Knox and his staff arranged for an Allstate Insurance team to visit during all three lunches with a simulator and Fatal Vision Goggles for students to experience what it is like to drive in an impaired condition. Students were given complimentary thumb bands reminding them not to text and drive.
At 1:45 p.m. students who had been “ghosted out” during the day walked silently to their seats next to the viewing stands as visible representation of the number of people who lose their lives in automobile accidents during any given day in America. Gunnery Sgt. Dunn read the narration as the event unfolded. Juniors and seniors were seated in a viewing area outside while freshmen and sophomores watched the events on classroom televisions. Local rescue teams extracted students from the wreckage and prepared them for transport. Depending on the severity of their injuries or life status, students were taken by ambulance, helicopter or hearse.
Science teacher Kathy Neal told the students what happens when the laws of physics are broken. Mrs. Neal relived the day she and her husband, Tommy, lost their youngest daughter in a car accident. Mary was not wearing a seat belt. Students listened in silence as Mrs. Neal described in detail the events of that awful day and urged them to make smart decisions behind the wheel so their parents don’t have to lose them in an accident.
With the arrival of spring, prom and the summer driving season, it is our hope that our students will make good decisions and remain safe while driving and riding on the roads. Thank you to all of those individuals and organizations who made our Ghost Out event a success.
Sincerely,
THS Administration
Mr. Cecil Strong, Principal
Dr. Roderick Hilton, Assistant Principal
Mrs. Pat Farner, Assistant Principal
Mr. Mike Smallwood, Assistant Principal
