Local student wins seat on national panel

Germatown Academy student Dan Boyce participates in a texting and driving simulation in the school's field house Jan. 13, 2011. The event is video taped and shared with other GA students later to discuss the dangers inherit with text while driving.

A local student was given the coveted opportunity to travel to the nation’s Capitol to participate in a forum addressing teenage driver safety and transportation issues.

Her name is Amanda Logan, a senior at Germantown Academy (G.A.) and winner of a spot to participate in a teen driver safety summit in Washington, D.C. Logan was selected to be the representative of a new partnership between G.A. and Plymouth Whitemarsh High School (PWHS), known as the PW/GA Student Coalition.

Logan and only nine others across the nation were chosen to participate in an assembly with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to share strategies used in their communities that positively impact the safety of teens behind the wheel.

Logan got back from Capitol Hill on Tuesday, after having worked alongside nine other students from what is called the Project Ignition Leader Schools, from across the U.S. A collaborative effort from the Whitemarsh Police Department, GA and PWHS made the trip possible.

“When LaHood walked into the room at the reception, I realized how much of a national impact we were making,” Logan said.

“Leading up to this, I had no idea it was not just school-wide, but country-wide. It’s a big deal and everyone is supporting us in this effort. That’s what really hit me.”

Logan and her student counterparts spent the three days in D.C. shadowing a DOT employee, in an effort to learn more about how the department impacts public safety.

Additionally, ambassadors from the select 10 schools have been chosen to serve as panelists in the National Service-Learning Conference and PeaceJam Leadership Conference in Minneapolis, Minn., come April. This trip was made possible with help from a $500 donation from the Whitemarsh Police Officers Benevolent Association.

“We are among only 10 schools in the nation and Canada to receive this,” said Lt. Fran Wheatley of the Whitemarsh Police Department. Wheatley oversees the Project Ignition program via the PW/GA Student Coalition.

“This campaign through the PW/GA Student Coalition has used funding through Project Ignition to do these text-and-drive campaigns. These are distractions you can’t afford.”  

The program is coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council and funded by State Farm auto insurance.

“We were supposed to raise awareness for the distracted driving cause and present our projects and explain what we’ve done in our school,” said Logan.

“We showed a video, and a lot of people came up to me and cried, saying that the video really affected them. Knowing that I made an immediate impact meant the most.”

Janet Maurer is director of counseling services for G.A. Maurer joined Wheatley and Logan to their trek south. She said that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Last spring, we did a pledge drive to not text and drive, and we got hundreds of signatures,” said Maurer.

“Ten schools in the country were honored to go to Washington and meet with members of the federal department of transportation.”

Maurer said, months ago, her school helped organize a legislative summit, with State Rep. Mike Gerber (D-148th of Montgomery County), State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-7th of Montgomery County) and a G.A. alum, where they discussed texting and driving legislation. Such measures have since been passed in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and Maurer said she considers it a victory.

“It was a fantastic experience,” she told The Times Herald.

“They are a really committed group and it’s a really amazing process that is going on.”

Three G.A. students participated in a distracted driving simulation at the field house on the G.A. campus on Friday, as another means of drawing attention to the cause.