On Thursday, Oct. 8, Roslyn High School presented an important assembly to the students.
“Choices and Consequences” focused on reducing risky behaviors while driving, such as drinking, speeding, not using a seatbelt and using a cell phone. Jay Pilnick, vice principal of Roslyn High School and social worker, Dorothy McHugh, ran the program in cooperation with the district attorney’s office.
The assembly encouraged students to make a pledge to place their phone in the glove box while driving to avoid all cell phone distractions. Students will make their pledge by signing a Glove It banner. Meanwhile, the pledge will be introduced year after year. This banner will be displayed in the high school for students and faculty to see.
In addition, each senior high school student’s parking permit will also visibly display the Glove It decal on the back to remind the driver to put away the cell phone each time they take the wheel. The initiative was brought to the high school by Roslyn High School senior Eryn Lipetz, through SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and led by McHugh. Lipetz and her family started the non-profit campaign, Take This Phone And Glove It, last summer. The campaign has been featured in Times Square and at NYNJ Port Authority bridges and tunnels. The Lipetz family are continuously spreading the message by speaking at assemblies, driver education programs, hosting fund raising events, distributing cell phone decals and magnets, and recruiting automobile dealerships and restaurants to help spread the word.
This year, the campaign will focus on partnering businesses with high schools in the tri-state region and beyond so that each school can be provided with seed funding to launch a Glove It campaign of their own. “If we can save just one life”, said Eryn Lipetz.
