STUDENTS GET CRASH COURSE IN TRAGEDY; ANTI-DRUNK-DRIVING PROGRAM ENACTED AT SAUGUS HIGH.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

Teacher Linda Margulies cried in class Wednesday when the Grim Reaper came for her pupil, a senior named Troy Delacruz.

``I was surprised she took it all so seriously,'' said Delacruz, who was called upon to take part in a two-day drama at Saugus High School depicting the horrors of drunk driving. ``Then it hit me. I felt the impact right away.''

Delacruz, 18, was one of the stars of the alcohol and drug abuse prevention program, Every 15 Minutes, so named for this national statistic: a youth dies every 15 minutes in an alcohol- or drug-related traffic collision.

Sponsored by the city of Santa Clarita and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the on-campus program included a dramatic simulation of an automobile crash involving student volunteer participants.

At midmorning, a mock traffic collision was staged by students on the Saugus Centurions' football field. The turf was littered with wrecked cars, broken bodies and ambulance drivers, with a rescue helicopter hovering nearby.

The student victims, feigning injuries and death, were rescued by paramedics.

The rescue personnel were authentic and played their parts so realistically that the student body fell completely silent, mesmerized by the unfolding drama before them.

The county Fire Department's air squad transported the victims to local health facilities.

The Hyatt Valencia was to keep the victims overnight. The students ``dead'' and ``injured'' weren't allowed communication with their families and friends, and were to write farewell letters home.

Some of the letters are to be read today in a student assembly, a follow-up measure to impress the students with the depth of feeling a family experiences in losing a loved one.

By involving students in simulations of traffic collisions and deaths, Saugus Principal Cheryl Brown hoped to promote teen awareness of the need to reduce the number of alcohol- and drug-related traffic collisions among high school students.

In addition, high school students need a challenge to their thinking, teacher David Stradling said. High school students need to think carefully about drinking, personal safety and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are involved.

``You have to remind them, because kids think nothing will happen to them - ever,'' he said.

The Grim Reaper was played by Bill Garvey, an officer with the California Narcotics Officers Association.

Dressed in black and resembling Darth Vadar, Garvey pulled the willing Delacruz from his class to join the growing number of student volunteers impersonating the ``living dead.''

Once he became one of the living dead, Delacruz donned black clothing and submitted to cadaver-like makeup.

Joining the other mock cadavers, Delacruz symbolized the number of teen-agers killed every 15 minutes in alcohol- and drug-related collisions across the nation.

``Some people may think it's nothing,'' the 18-year-old said. ``But I think most will be aware of how bad things happen.''

And Brown thinks so, too.

Determined to make the students aware of the dangers in the abuse of alcohol and drugs, Brown donated class time to the production of Every 15 Minutes.

``We believe we can make a difference through this program,'' she said.

Supported by parents, Brown saw the program as a way to reach the students emotionally.

Still, there were students who would not participate.

``It's a jinx,'' said Saugus junior Billy Dillenberger, 17. ``You don't want those kind of thoughts in your head. Kids' minds are already made up. Once you get to a certain age, you know what's right and wrong.''

But teachers such as Stradling who support the program won't give up on any student.

``Even if we save only 10 people by giving this presentation, then it's important; then it's worth it,'' he said.

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5 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Optomist Club member Debbie Hillman applies makeup to senior Sean Stoddard's face for his simulated death during Wednesday's mock drunk-driving collision.

(2--Color) Firefighters use the Jaws of Life to free passengers trapped in a car during the drunk-driving crash simulation at Saugus High.

(3-4--Color) Senior Cory Ojala, 18, is given a mock field sobriety test, above, during the Every 15 Minutes program on the effects of alcohol- and drug-related collisions. At left, Lindsay Sachs, 16, and Matt Kopp, 18, watch as one of the ``victims'' of the simulated crash is taken away by ambulance. A rescue helicopter was also on hand.

(5) Saugus High senior Alicia Moat simulates being a victim of a drunk-driving collision as part of the two-day program.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News