Pioneer, Skyline students recognized for videos highlighting dangers of distracted driving

By Andrew Cluley- AAPS Communications Director
Pioneer 10^th grader Brian Khuu was recently surprised near the end of his second hour orchestra class. It was a positive surprise, complete with an oversized check. All thanks to a video he made highlighting the danger caused when drivers are surprised on the road when they are distracted behind the wheel.

Khuu was announced as the Ann Arbor Public Schools winner of the Suburban Collection Focus on the Road video competition. Students from across AAPS entered 30 second long videos highlighting sobering facts like cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes a year and that every day nine people die from accidents involving a distracted driver.

In Khuu’s video these facts are presented through the use of Lego people crashing cars. Sadly even though Khuu isn’t old enough to have his license yet, he still sees too many drivers that have their attention elsewhere. Khuu says he hopes his video inspires people to keep their focus on their driving. “I know the dangers of distracted driving because I see it a lot on the road and in some YouTube videos,” he says.

This is the first time AAPS students have participated in the Suburban Collection’s Focus on the Road video competition. Social Media Manager for the Suburban Collection Dan Fuoco says education is one of the pillars of their charity giving. He says the hope is these videos can send a powerful message to young drivers. “Creating a video like this where you have high school students who talk about this kind of distraction, or talk about this kind of cause and then are able to show it to their peers we thought was a great idea in order to decrease distracted driving,” Fuoco says.

Khuu received a $1500 check for winning the contest in Ann Arbor. Skyline students Tomoaki Ashida and Thomas Boss also received prizes for second and third place in the contest this year.