History

In 2004, South Windsor High School, along with the South Windsor police force and the South Windsor Youth and Family Services elected to put on a community wide program called Every 15 Minutes (see [|www.every15minutes.com]). With Kathy Danias and Elsie Diaz as the leading forces, a large group of staff members from the high school, the town, and the police force came together on a monthly basis to organize this huge event. On April 27th and 28th, Every 15 Minutes took place at the high school. A mock accident was erected on the street while juniors and senior students observed. Throughout that day, every 15 minutes a student from various classrooms was announced to have died in an auto accident which had to do with drinking and driving. By the end of the day, there were about 50 Living Dead who were escorted out of their classrooms and brought to a secret area so that their friends would have no communication with them. They re-appeared the next day at the "memorial service", with even coffins and hearsts out in the open, symbolizing this tragic event. A film had captured the essence of the mock crash with a story about how the drinking got started (story line created by the students themselves). Students poured into the memorial service so quietly you could hear a pin drop. It felt real, not mock and the following weekend being Prom weekend was recorded as being one of the safest on record. A charter was made that Every 15 Minutes would take place every two years so that all juniors and seniors would participate in it.

In 2006, as Every 15 Minutes was nearing completion of organization, a tragic event took place. There was an automobile accident in which one of the high school students died in this accident. While there was no drinking involved in this accident, it was felt that it would be too hurtful to have the event go on as planned. Yet even the students' parents who were an integral part of this program from the start, felt that something still needed to take place. Re-organization took place with the students re-designing the accident and film and BROKEN DREAMS was born. While Every 15 Minutes required that there had to be caskets, a live mock crash, and other specifics, BROKEN DREAMS allowed us to modify the program as saw fit in this situation. Due to the timing of both the tragic event and the needs to re-organize, BROKEN DREAMS took place on June 4-5, 2006. It was still successful. The only parts missing were the live mock crash and the caskets. The living dead were the Lost Dreamers without ghostly faces.

Since the two leaders, Kathy and Elsie, had moved onto other areas, and South Windsor no longer had people who had been through the training of Every 15 Minutes which is required to do that program, it was decided to continue on with BROKEN DREAMS. In 2008, BROKEN DREAMS took place once again and was again a great success, including having a bonfire which helped bond the students even further.

During the first year, it was decided that every two years this event will take place and so as it is 2010, Broken Dreams is again ready to help the school understand the dangers of distracted driving. It was decided this year that the move from just drinking and driving must now move to distracted driving which includes texting and driving as statistics show that texting and driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving.