VOLGA — It’s homecoming week in Volga — but Sioux Valley High School students started their celebrations with a sober reminder about safety when law enforcement staged a mock fatal drunk driving crash Monday morning just outside their school.

“The reality’s that one bad decision — one night — can change a lot of people’s lives,” Brookings County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Kriese said. “The effect goes beyond just them — just beyond their victims, to their families. Make good choices, make good decisions. Think about how your actions can affect so many others.”

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety’s website says one out of every three traffic crash fatalities involve drunk drivers, and each day 28 people in America die from drunk driving crashes. 

“I just want to again spread awareness to the students,” Kriese said. “Just to spread awareness again and put it in people’s minds that this is the reality of bad choices and where they can lead.”

Students from Sioux Valley’s FCCLA program painted their faces with fake blood and played the roles of the victims. As their peers crowded around to watch, one student was breathalyzed and handcuffed — another student was loaded into a hearse. Staff from the sheriff’s office, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Volga Fire Department, Brookings Ambulance, and Rude’s Funeral Home all responded to the mock scene.

“Cars are fun. But they also can be very dangerous if used in the wrong way, so we just want to make sure that we are making good choices behind the wheel,” Tyler Bolstad, Sioux Valley middle and high school principal, said. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of medicine.”

He said this is the first time he’s aware of Sioux Valley participating in this type of program.

“Mrs. (Megan) Jaquet — our FCCLA adviser — she had done this previously during her time in Brookings,” Bolstad said. “So this is something Deputy Kriese from the Brookings County Sheriff’s Department brought to us, and we jumped on board. FCCLA partnered with him on that, and it’s going to be a good learning experience for our students.”

He said the event isn’t intended to send a specific homecoming-related message.

“It’s more convenience with our scheduling,” Bolstad said. “Homecoming already gets to be a bit different with the schedule, so it’s like — let’s fold this into that week, where the schedule is already a little bit off.”

The Sioux Valley homecoming football game is Friday at 7 p.m. against Sisseton.

Email Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.