Schools
Students Hear the Cost of Underage Drinking
Brandon Silveria lost his job, car, girlfriend, and future to a few beers.
From an affluent community in northern California, and once bound for Boston College on a rowing scholarship, Assistant Principal Dawn Bartz said Brandon Silveria's story should really hit home for New Canaan High School students.
"He's very much like them."
Silveria was 17 when, just before his prom, he fell asleep at the wheel after a few drinks at a high school party and crashed into a tree, leaving him in a coma for three months.
Now he travels the country warning youth about the dangers of underage drinking and drunk driving. His appearance at NCHS was sponsored by top alcoholic beverage company Diageo.
He told an audience juniors and seniors Monday how it took him three years of rehabilitation to relearn how to walk, talk, and swallow. More than two decades after the accident, he still walks with a limp, short term memory problems keep him in the dark as to what he did only hours before, and his speech is severely impaired.
"Just look at me, is it really worth a couple of drinks?" he asked the students who are looking forward to their own junior prom Friday, and senior prom next month.
Student Chris Dudley said afterward that Silveria's story impressed him more than the statistics or second hand accounts he's heard.
"It's a real example of someone whose life was ruined," he said.
Silveria implored the students to have a running dialogue on the peer pressures that can lead to bad choices. His father Tony, who tours with Brandon, suggested true friendships would survive the disagreements that may arise.
Intervening in risky situations, he said, "that's the test of a friendship."
After hearing the Silverias, junior Molly Barfuss sais, "I'm more inclined to get out of my comfort zone to help someone who might be about to drink and drive."
