More than 200 teens and safety professionals gathered on Saturday, November 14, at El Paso Community College for the second annual Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) Summit. That’s 31 high schools, 15 cities, 4 states, and 2 countries that were represented by attendees at the Summit.
Speakers included El Paso Mayor John Cook, The Honorable Rick Olivo, El Paso Municipal Court Judge (and Summit keynote speaker), and TDS Program Director Russell Henk.
Presentations included both a teen and professional track emphasis. The teen track
focused on what TDS is, how to keep your TDS program fresh throughout the year, how to make the TDS message stick, and how to get your entire community involved in TDS. The professional track focused on how to support teens who are deploying a TDS program and how to make TDS a permanent program at your school.
A very moving presentation was given by Tammy Ryden of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Tammy has dedicated her life to safety promotion since her daughter was killed in a crash at the age of 15. Also, Dr. Albert Balesh shared insights about teen behavior and how it relates to driver safety issues.
Teen participants also gave feedback on a few TV concepts for the program and were introduced to the TDS Teen Advisory Board.
Thanks to all the Summit sponsors: The Texas Department of Transportation, El Paso Community College, Andre’s Catering and State Farm Insurance.
The TDS Summit was big news in El Paso as several different news outlets in El Paso interviewed teens that attended the event.
Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2009 TDS Summit a successful event. We’ll see everybody again next year at the 2010 Summit.
I enjoyed the summit. As the mother of an advisory board member, I love to see the kids so involved and TDS is a GREAT program for our teens. Keep up the good work.
As a Teen Advisory Board Member of Teens in the Driver Seat, I can surely say that this summit was AWESOME! Our adult advisors and teens in attendance really enjoyed the summit tracks and learned a whole lot. We look forward to next year’s summit!