FNMI Youth TSP ACTIVITIES
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As part of our Aboriginal Youth P.A.R.T.Y., students create their own traffic safety
plans in class. The sessions start with a pre-quiz to find out
what the class knows already and orient them to the issues.
Students then frankly and candidly explore traffic safety
through personal stories, videos and other graphics, along with
a variety of resource materials designed to help them learn
about the Alberta Traffic Safety Plan and how it applies to
them. Working with an injury prevention specialist from the
community, they identify issues they feel are particularly
relevant in their worlds, and choose the ones they want to
address and how they will address them.
An essential part of the whole experience is understanding that
the numbers reflect past statistical likelihoods rather than an
individual's future, and the power people have to change the
stats.
After students make their plan, they are provided with resources and guidance to implement it in their own ways, working with their own families, peer groups, other student groups, small children, parents, the community, etc. They regularly report back to each other about and record their experiences and intentions. Overviews of some of the events from this school year are listed below.
Kehewin Grade 9 Traffic Safety Plan
Grade 9 students from Kehewin School have put together an awesome project focused on some very important issues. This group went through the P.A.R.T.Y. program at the Bonnyville Health Centre this year, where they impressed hospital staff and other presenters with their keen interest, maturity, and active participation. After they completed their training through the regular P.A.R.T.Y. program, they identified important ways they felt they could make a difference in their community. One thing they did was to make sure that students who were unable to attend the hospital day got a chance to see and hear what the program was about. This group honed in on some really important issues and made sure their peers knew the important points. The group also created their own Traffic Safety Plan, and the students are now working on their own projects, focusing on helping the community understand the burden of injury, raising awareness, and changing behaviour with respect to seat belt use and drug and alcohol use while driving, including motor vehicles as well as ATVs and snowmobiles. They have distributed brochures on the various topics, talked to people in their own spheres of influence, and engaged with the Grade 8s in a school-wide poster campaign. In addition, a student from this group put together an excellent and poignant presentation on seatbelt use and delivered it to several classes in the school.
Kehewin Grade 8 Traffic Safety Plan
This group of thoughtful grade 8 students put together a creative and rounded plan. They applied themselves to the serious issues they discussed and learned about in class, then put their hearts into developing several sub-plans to address a variety of topics. The group had amazing insights into the issues and as a result, they developed a very exciting campaign. They used a lot of different resources to raise awareness about injury prevention in general, bicycle helmet use, seatbelt use, drinking and driving, driver training, and speeding in their community. They distributed items such as brochures, pencils, and keychains, talked to people in their own spheres of influence, and engaged with the Grade 9s in a school-wide poster campaign.
Kehewin Grade 7 Traffic Safety Plan
The fun and friendly Grade 7 students
of the Kehewin Community Education Centre participated very well in their in-class sessions, learning about traffic
safety in their community, and clearly demonstrating that they are a very concerned and
smart group. 
This group was deeply concerned with the trauma that alcohol can have on families and communities, and really made a great effort to get the word out. We know they have made a big difference in the community on many topics - they have
been talking to grandparents, parents, and siblings, even parents of friends, to take hold of their own future! The Grade 7s also did great work creating reports, brochures, and posters to show their deep concern (click on the icons
to see the full posters). 
Moreover, some very creative and hard-working students went to local businesses to raise awareness about
traffic safety in their community and do original research, finding out and recording their observations about what people think of the importance of various traffic safety issues! What did they find? They found that the community cares - 72% of the people they observed expressed concern over traffic safety. Very impressive, indeed. Way to go, Grade 7!
Kehewin Senior High Traffic Safety Plan
Senior high students at Kehewin spent a few afternoons watching videos about traffic safety, discussing the burden of injury, getting to know their Regional Traffic Safety Coordinators, and learning about the Alberta Traffic Safety Plan. This remarkable group of young people had the presenters engaged in many discussions demonstrating their high level of understanding and insight into the issues, including things like the many forms of distracted driving, factors underlying different people not wearing a seatbelt, and recognizing key intersections in their neighbourhood where they felt youth, especially young children, were at risk. This group demonstrated special insight into very important topics, such as the role and responsibility that girls have in influencing guys with respect to things like speeding and stunting. Over the last few months, the senior high group put together a wide-ranging campaign for the TSP, taking charge of the issues, hammering with several approaches on several topics, including seatbelt use, intersections, marijuana use and driving, impaired driving, distracted driving, and cell phone use.
They have
already changed their own behaviours and done a lot of work in the
community to raise awareness. 
One particularly impressive part of their TSP was their community research. Some of the members of their group designed and administered a survey on cell phone use, to both raise awareness and get people thinking about change, but also to get a database of community inputs. In essence, they found that most people who had the opportunity to used their cell phones while driving at least some of the time, but after the interview and awareness raising discussion, 100% of the respondents who earlier reported using cell phones said that they would now change their behaviour! Brilliant work, Senior High! You are the future!
Kehewin Seatbelt P.A.R.T.Y.
SStaff and students at Kehewin School know how important it is to wear your seatbelt. They want you to know that this means every body every time. Click here to see their Seatbelt P.A.R.T.Y.
LeGoff Traffic Safety Plan
The super students at LeGoff school demonstrated a lot of insight into the issues that the Alberta Traffic Safety Plan addresses and how these issues affect them in their own personal spheres. This group talked candidly with Regional Traffic Safety Coordinators about a lot of issues such as always making sure little kids are buckled in properly and ATVs and helmet use, and had some very important questions answered. For their TSP, brave members of the class went into the community to share information and brochures, and others did the equally important work of talking to friends and family. The LeGoff group also put together a poster campaign to raise awareness of many issues such as distracted driving and pedestrian safety. Thank you, LeGoff students for making the community a better place for all!