For Immediate Release Contact: [Your Name and Title]
Phone: [Your Phone]
Email: [Your Email]
[Name of Middle School] participates in Seat Belt Safety Summit
(send photo with press releases)
[City, State] – Date – [Name of Middle School] students flew to Washington, D.C. last week to participate in a middle-school seat belt safety Summit. As members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), these students were chosen to participate in an exciting new campaign to promote seat belt safety among their peers and in their community.
Thanks to a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), FCCLA’s new campaign will inform youth, specifically rural middle school youth, and parents about seat belt safety and will create a positive community effort to encourage everyone to wear their seat belts. The campaign will highlight the need for drivers and passengers to be sure everyone in their car uses their seat belt on every trip, even if it is the passenger reminding the driver to buckle up. Entitled "iBuckleUp weBuckleUp,” the messaging will focus on youth in rural areas pledging to buckle up (iBuckleUp) and encouraging all others to do the same (weBuckleUp).
We are in the middle of a historic increase in crash-related fatalities and youth of all ages – including middle schoolers – who are included in this situation, which began in 2015 and continues today. “Traffic fatalities increased by 7 percent from 2014 to 2015 (32,744 to 35,092).” (Source: Occupant protection section at: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812412 ; https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812348)
[Insert quote from a member(s) that indicates the importance of attending the Summit and why they want to make a difference in improving seatbelt safety.]
To kick-off the first year of the grant (2017-18 school year), last week’s Summit gathered 10 committed teams from rural communities across the country to create seat belt safety pilot projects. [Name of Middle School]’s team included a state adviser, chapter adviser, parents, and middle level members – all of whom will work as a group to create a project to launch iBuckleUP weBuckleUP campaign in [name of state]. FCCLA will help these teams work to develop a train-the-trainer model that can be replicated at the state and local levels. While in D.C. the groups brainstormed and worked together to come up with project ideas and lessons for their states that would support the iBuckleUP weBuckleUP campaign. During the second year (2018-19 school year), FCCLA will encourage all their middle school chapters across the country to get involved in the campaign by utilizing one of these pilot projects or creating their own.
Attendees at the Summit heard from traffic safety experts including Alexander (Sandy) Sinclair, Program Manager, U.S. Department of Transportation/NHTSA; and Stephanie Shaw, Safety Advocate for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
[Include 2-3 sentences regarding what students learned from the experience of attending the Summit.]
About FCCLA
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education. FCCLA has more than 164,000 members and more than 5,300 chapters from 49 state associations, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. www.fcclainc.org
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