By Chrystal Cruz

The Get it Together Seatbelt Challenge is once again taking place at Ocean Lakes High School.

The program involves 18 high schools across the Hampton Roads area, six of which are in Virginia Beach. In addition to Ocean Lakes, participating high schools include Kellam, Landstown, Princess Anne, Salem and Tallwood.

It is a challenge that promotes safety, seat belt awareness and resources for young men and women to make good driving decisions.

“Our goal this year is to make sure that all of our dolphins are buckling up,” assistant principal James Imbriale said. “We want to help increase Virginia’s overall seat belt usage which, historically, has been on the lower side of the 50 states.”

Imbriale promotes the program within the building, and he aligns the resources to earn points and make sure that the school is represented to its fullest in this challenge. Last year, Ocean Lakes reached the highest standard that could be received.

“We were a gold winner last year, and it is our expectation to win gold again,” Imbriale said.

Driver’s Education teacher Michael Pollock has also been involved in this challenge since last year.

“Last year our PSA (public service announcement) video was hands down the best of all the submissions and our seat belt numbers are always at the top,” Pollock said.

Senior Sam Patterson and junior Addison Munson are two students that help Imbriale and Pollock along the way. To make students aware of their actions, they are going to post PSA videos, pledges and signage around the school.

“In the morning Sam and I get to school, and we walk to the front of the student parking lot so we can record the seat belt data,” Addison said. “For example, when a car drives by, we look to see if the driver, passenger or backseat passengers have their seat belt on.”

Data is collected and submitted once by Dec. 5, and again by Feb. 6. They collect three unannounced seat belt checks, points for various activities and a 20- to 30-second video, which is how they get judged for their points.

“If we can get young people across the nation to get into the habit of buckling up early in their driving career, they have a better chance at surviving bad car accidents,” Pollock said.

Chrystal Cruz is a sophomore and journalist for The Current, Ocean Lakes High School’s student news website.