Livingston—One of only 59 schools in the state, three of them in Essex County, the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School has been selected to participate in the 5th annual U Got Brains Champion Schools program for the 2014-15 school year. The program is sponsored by the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey and is intended to help high schools develop teen driving safety programs for their schools. The schools were required to submit a proposal to the Alliance, which then selected the ultimate participants. Participating high schools create an awareness project which combines video production, a social media campaign, and awareness programs within their schools.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death and disability in teenagers, and Kusher’s SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) committee works hard to promote safe and defensive driving. Earlier this year, the committee brought in speakers from Project PRIDE (Promoting Responsibility in Drug Education) who helped to educate the students by speaking about their personal experiences.

This is Kushner’s fourth year participating in the program. Last year the school received a driving simulator for its participation, which is now being used by students in its driver’s ed class as a way to teach defensive driving. This year, the SADD committee has selected “distracted driving” as their theme, and Kushner’s Teen Driving Safety Awareness Campaign will focus on that theme in creating its program submissions.

By Jill Kirsch