LITTLE ROCK — Death came calling for Nebreiagh Nichole Thomas as she sat in her pre-AP chemistry class Thursday morning at North Pulaski High School in Jacksonville.
Classmates listened as Jacksonville Police Department auxiliary Capt. Charles Jenkins read her obituary, citing an alcohol-related car crash on Thursday as the cause of the volleyball player’s demise.
The Grim Reaper then ushered Thomas, 17, to the teachers’ lounge, where she explained her sudden worldly departure while waiting to get her face painted a solemn white and black.
“My friend was drinking and I was in the passenger’s seat and he was drunk and crashed,” Thomas said.
Thomas was one of 16 volunteer students participating in the “walking dead” portion of the Every 15 Minutes program that teaches the dangers of drunken driving. The two-day program, which also involves Jacksonville High School, includes a mock crash and an overnight retreat.
For a few hours, student volunteers became living death statistics and were pulled out of class every 15 minutes by the black-hooded, scythe-carrying Grim Reaper, played Thursday by Denny Dutcher.
“I’m trying to look dead and be serious to carry it off to scare people, I think the makeup does it,” said Dutcher, a Jacksonville Citizens Police Academy alumnus. “We’ve already had a couple of girls scream when they saw me.”
The students returned to class after the face painting and took a vow of silence, at least until a school assembly at 1:30 p.m., Jacksonville Police Department spokesman Capt. Kenny Boyd said.
“Hello, welcome to Heaven,” 17-year-old victim Nathan Crews was told when he walked into the teacher’s lounge. He affirmed, “I am dead.”
“It shows the rest of my friends if I was dead, how they’d react to that. They’ll be surprised ... because I’m talkative,” Crews said. “They should see definitely don’t drink and drive, especially on prom night.”
Students were shocked and confused to see 17-year old Trai’ona Reed sitting at her desk, her face white, with black circles around her eyes, a bit of fake blood dripping from her head.
Boyd said most students were unaware of the program.
While Reed stared vacantly, 17-year-old Jemia Hollis tried, to no avail, to find out what was going on.
“She got hit, oh my God,” Hollis said. “She’s looking down, she’s got blood on her head.”
Reed’s American history teacher, J.B. Pendergraft quipped, “Your grade will be the same as before you passed away.”
“I think it’s been an awakening for some of these kids to see,” Pendergraft said.
To encourage communication, student volunteers were required to write their obituaries with their parents.
“I wrote that obit and I thought it was going to be a breeze, but it was hard. It sent chills through me,” said the Police Department’s support services/school resources officer Sgt. Robert Washington of his 17-year-old daughter, Brianna “Breezy” Washington. “I said, ‘You’re going to die today, let me give you a hug.’”
Brianna Washington said she didn’t mind playing dead if it meant saving a life.
“I want to set an example,” she said. “I hope people take the necessary precautions to not have this happen to them.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/20/2012