As the top Friday Night Live chapter in California, Inderkum High School’s FNL club was invited to the Capitol today, where its leaders accepted a resolution on the Senate floor recognizing April as California Friday Night Live Month.
Inderkum was named California’s Friday Night Live “Chapter of the Year” last fall, recognizing it as a champion in fighting to save lives from drunken driving, distracted driving, or use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco.
Inderkum FNL President Monique Peterson, Vice President Noah Heppler and other club leaders participated in the Capitol recognition, while various club members watched from the Senate gallery with Principal Dan Motherspaw and club advisers Eric Fong and Melissa May.
Motherspaw said he’s proud of the Tigers’ Friday Night Live contingent for working together to make their community a better place. Inderkum’s club has won top county honors for four straight years.
“I think our kids are really experiencing civic engagement,” he said. “They’re finding that, as the youth of our community, they have a voice and have a say in helping their fellow teens make good decisions and informed decisions.”
“There’s nothing more powerful than a youth movement because they’re the future of our society,” Fong added. “They want to see change, they want to see a difference.”
During National Teen Driver Safety Week, Oct. 15-21, Inderkum’s FNL conducted a teen safe-driving campaign. Members surveyed other teens about their driving habits and asked students to pledge not to drive while distracted. They provided a video game that simulated texting while driving. They also offered teens a chance to drive a small “pedal car” through an obstacle course while texting, enabling drivers to see how easy it is to veer off course.
More recently, the club has participated in various other activities aimed at risky behavior, including campaigns to educate teens about the harmful effects of smoking and to talk with local merchants about ensuring that alcohol is inaccessible to youth.
Members of Inderkum’s FNL joined the group for differing reasons.
Monique, a Tiger senior, said she was a passenger in a car driven by an intoxicated family member when she was in 7th grade. She was scared at the time, but the story has a happy ending: The family member no longer drinks and drives – and Monique is a leader in fighting to save lives from risky behavior.
Noah said he saw firsthand, as a child, how drugs affected someone he knew well. He never wanted that to happen to anyone else, so he joined advocacy efforts as a 7th-grader and hopes to be Inderkum’s FNL student leader next year.
Inderkum graduate Irene Aguirre-Cisneros, who was president of the club last year and attended Monday’s Capitol ceremony, said she got involved with FNL because she has lost family members to drunken and distracted driving.
Ashley Vinayak, 17, said she attended FNL initially because she was invited by a friend. But she enjoyed the club, making new friends and stepping out of her comfort zone to help her community. “We all strengthen each other,” she said.
Fong said the club’s activism clearly is making a difference in the lives of its leaders and, for peers hearing their message, it’s planting a seed that could someday prevent a fatality.
“Peer-to-peer makes such a big difference,” said Melissa May, Fong’s partner as staff adviser. “What they’ve been able to do in the campus culture is phenomenal.”
