Motivational speaker Tyson Dever spoke to the student body last week about distracted driving, sharing his personal experience with a distracted driver accident. Dever was hit by a distracted driver, leading him to be paralyzed from the waist down.
FCCLA leaders Amanda Harter and Chelsea Nelson paired with Teens in the Driver’s Seat to get Dever as their guest speaker this year for FCCLA. The visit was funded by Texas Transportation Department Services, and the leaders said they were thrilled to have Dever come.
“We came in contact with Mr. Dever through Texas FCCLA’s partnership with Teens in the Driver seat,” Nelson said. “Distracted driving is a real problem that our community and students are exposed to every day. That is why we decided to reach out and have him share his story with BHS students in hopes that we could become part of the solution to this epidemic.”
FCCLA members helped fill out the paperwork to organize his visit and helped him get set up for his presentation.
“It was amazing getting to greet Mr. Tyson and greet him at our school,” junior Bradyn Lack said. “I was able to speak to him for a while before the presentation and get to know about him. His presentation was amazing and I loved how involved everyone was getting into it and I hope that everyone took a good message away from him and knows to always be aware of the roads.”
A number of the students found Dever’s presentation inspiring and a reminder to not only be more aware of their surroundings, but to take this as an opportunity to see different perspectives.
“His presentation really helped me realize how easily things can change for anyone,” Adrian Villa said. “It definitely helped me realize not to take things for granted and that traffic safety is something we should always keep in mind.”
Some took this as an opportunity to change their ways to become better and more cautious drivers.
“His speech helped me change my perspective on driving safety and I’ve started to put my phone down more ever since,” Kayla Padron said. “This has also helped have a better understanding of the purpose of my FCCLA display board, which is on distracted driving.”
