We are excited to announce that Becca Hockman from East High School in Denver, CO has been chosen as the second annual $1500 DriveSafe Driving Schools Scholarship winner!
DriveSafe Driving Schools is committed to helping students learn the importance of safe decision-making both behind the wheel and in life as a whole. This mission is the motivation behind our scholarship essay prompt, which asks applicants to tell us in their own words why making safe decisions while driving is so important as well as how making those responsible choices affects other areas of life and impacts the future.
Hundreds of gifted students from around the country sent us their inspiring essays, but Becca’s stood out with her clear message of how every choice we make behind the wheel has the potential to significantly impact our lives as well as the lives of our loved ones and our fellow drivers.
After reading Becca’s thoughtful response to our prompt, we are fully confident that her safe decision-making skills will lead her to have a bright and successful future.
Becca’s winning essay is printed below:
DriveSafe Scholarship Winning Essay–Take Two by Becca Hockman
She drives steadily. Her fingers tap the wheel as she hums along with Billy Joel. She turns the music up as she immerses herself in her own rendition of Uptown Girl, belting each lyric as if it were her on stage, roused by thousands of wild fans. She steps on the gas, eager to get to her best friend’s house, to have a cozy night of movies and face masks. Her phone pings a notification from her boyfriend. Seeing the illuminating light, she picks up her phone and reads the text message, smiling at her boyfriend’s sweet words. Her left hand on the wheel, steadying the car in her lane, she quickly types a response with her other one, her eyes darting between the road and her phone.
But her eyes didn’t move quick enough, her hand didn’t type fast enough, her foot didn’t move swift enough. Before she could slam on the breaks, before she looked up, before she hit send, her car was thrown upside down, flying through the air from the impact of slamming into the Jersey barrier.
Her boyfriend never heard from her. Her best friend never got to watch another movie with her. Her father never got to hear her sweet voice. Her mother never got to feel her warm embrace. You determine your fate, especially when you make decisions such as looking at your phone when driving. But more importantly, you have the potential to seriously alter others’ lives as well. The impact you have behind the wheel can be monumental, but the impact you have in the world is at your fingertips as well. By taking a step back from your illuminated screen, in and out of the car, you provide yourself with the opportunity to become more aware of the world, and more importantly, your impact in it. When you pause and take a moment to consider the repercussions of your actions, you find that controlling your usage behind the wheel and disconnecting when driving can translate to disconnecting from your phone in school, with family, or around friends. It opens you up to not only being an alert, aware, and responsible driver, but to be truly present in the world, someone capable of forming close relationships and leaving their mark.
She steps on the gas, eager to get to her best friend’s house, to have a cozy night of movies and face masks. Her phone pings from a notification from her boyfriend. Seeing the illuminating light, she turns her phone over, laying it face down on her console. She can respond to him later. He can wait.
