What is Shattered Dreams?

The three-day program is designed to educate students, parents, and the community about the serious issue of underage drinking and driving, by providing a realistic experience and encouraging them to make positive choices. The presentation is held before the school’s prom, an occasion on which teenagers are most likely to consume alcoholic beverages.

Shattered Dreams, targeted at underage drinking and driving, involves the dramatization of an alcohol-related accident staged on the High School campus. While the entire student body watches, police, fire, and other emergency personnel will respond to the scene. The “victim” students will be transported by ambulance and Air Ambulance to Hunt Regional, while the “deceased” student will be transported by Coker Mathews Funeral Home. The “drunk driver” will be arrested and transported to the Greenville P.D for book-in and arraignment.

Throughout the day, the Grim Reaper will enter a classroom every 45 minutes and select a student victim, known as the “Living Dead”. When the program first originated in the mid-1990s, the 45-minute time period represented how often someone was killed in an alcohol-related accident. As students are pulled from class, the student’s obituary that was written by their parents. At the end of the school day, the Living Dead, crash victims, and drunk driver are taken on an overnight retreat to enhance the learning experience.

The second day will include a Memorial Service for the “victims” and their families. The entire student body of both Greenville High and The High School students from Greenville Christian School along with civic leaders, first respondenders, and volunteers. At the conclusion of the Memorial the “victims” are reunited with their friends and loved ones.

Day three will include the trial and ultimate “conviction” of the drunk driver before a judge and jury of their peers. The courtroom trial will be the closing event to the Shattered Dreams Experience.