Student Video Wins Montclair High a $10K Driving Simulator

A group of Montclair High School students aren’t clowning around when it comes to safe driving.

The students, members of the MHS Breast Cancer Awareness Club, wrote, filmed and starred in an eight-minute public service announcement presented at the third annual U Got Brains Champion School Program Showcase and Awards Luncheon in June.

The showcase presented by the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey featured projects by 55 high schools from around the state. 

Montclair students worked with Montclair Police Officer Kim Nelson-Edwards to create, “I’m a Safe Teen Driver…Not a Circus Clown”, a teen safe driving campaign.

The campaign uses humor to inform students of the serious consequences of not adhering to graduated driver's license (GDL) restrictions, which include having only one driver in the car, not driving after 11 p.m., not using electronic devices while driving, wearing seat belts and placing red stickers on license plates that alert others that a novice driver is behind the wheel.

"The Montclair High School Breast Cancer Awareness Club recognizes that driving safely can be considered a health issue," the club explained in the description of the video on YouTube. "This PSA will not only entertain students, but educate them and stress the importance of taking driving seriously."

The top two campaigns in the past received a driving simulator donated by New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company (NJM). 

This year, in celebration of NJM’s 100th anniversary, all participating schools were given driving simulators, presenting an investment of more than $700,000 toward teen driving safety.