MOOSEHEART, IL - It was the kind of scene no one wanted to see on the day of Mooseheart High School's Prom - two cars that had just collided with senior students slumped and bleeding in their seats.

The police and fire departments responded quickly on Friday, May 9, and the 9 a.m. calm was shattered with the sound of sirens and racing squad cars and fire trucks. Within an hour, an extricated student was airlifted off-campus in an Air Angels helicopter -- and another placed in a body bag.

Fortunately, the blood was realistic stage makeup, and Mooseheart senior Michelle Moore was still breathing when she went into the body bag -- and shortly afterward when she came out of it.

But the message of this mock accident scene was meant to drive home a point to Mooseheart’s students: Don’t drink and drive, or you could be in one of these situations for real.

Mooseheart senior Jake Stegeman portrayed the drunk driver in the scene in which a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am, carrying two Prom-bound couples, supposedly hit a 1987 Ford Crown Victoria carrying a mother and two teenagers.

Among the first things that happened at the scene was that Stegeman was arrested and put into a police car.

“The thing that stays with me is how powerless you are, after you drink and are in an accident when you've been drinking,” Stegeman said. “You have absolutely no control of anything anymore; you're basically powerless -- and those handcuffs go on tightly and they hurt.”

Between 35 and 40 emergency personnel from the Kane County Sheriff’s Department, the police and fire departments from both Batavia and North Aurora responded. The Kane County Coroner’s office also participated as one of the students involved, Moore, failed to survive the accident.

Even though the accident wasn’t real, the method of extricating the students was very real - and gave the seniors a sense of how terrifying a crash can be.

“It was really scary, more so than I thought it would be,” Mooseheart senior Gaby Datil said. That was mostly because of the broken glass all around -- when I came out in tears, that was real, because it was extremely scary.”

Seniors Brandy Carter and Sam Rind were also in the “Prom date” car. Carter was removed and taken away in an ambulance, while Rind was stretchered to the helicopter -- which, actually, then took off without him.

“It was very realistic,” Carter said. “I had a backless dress on, and the broken glass fell down my back and it hurt . . . the whole car was being shaken, pushed and pulled; the whole car was shaking with the equipment they used. I was scared.”

Floyd Mays and Moore were in the “family” car with Mooseheart middle school science teacher Sandy Kouyoumdzoglou. Mays was transported in an ambulance, Moore ended in a body bag while Kouyoumdzoglou answered questions about the accident in a police car.

After the event, Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez spoke to the entire student body.

“Short-term decisions have long-term consequences,” Perez said. “You lose your driving privileges, how do you get to your job; how are you going to support your family? There are the financial burdens - and then there are the emotional burdens you will carry with you until the day you die. We (emergency workers) are the folks who have to deal every day with the immediate aftermath of bad decisions. So make the right decisions -- and help each other make the right decisions. Your friend drinks too much, don't let him drive.”

The morning concluded with when Elk Grove Village entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Gallo spoke to the Mooseheart students. In 1980, Gallo and friends stopped to help a car driven by an intoxicated motorist that went off the side of the road. While attempting to help that motorist, another car, with another drunk driver at the wheel, struck Gallo, at that moment a pedestrian. The impact sent him over a guardrail and onto railroad tracks 40 feet below. He spent four months in the hospital and emerged permanently wheelchair-bound. He now makes appearances before audiences of young people throughout the Midwest, speaking bluntly about the dangers and ramifications of drinking and driving.

Gallo reminded the students of the statistics regarding drunken driving and the enormous financial and emotional consequences of such actions. And he reminded them that simple decisions, such as calling parents when intoxicated, may have short-term-punishment consequences, but still result in a life that isn’t blighted by a catastrophe.

“Will your parents be upset?” Gallo asked. “Definitely. Will you get in trouble? Probably. But we’ve all been in trouble. You go and take the punishment like an adult. But your parents would rather you make that call than wind up the victim of drunk-driving accident.”

Gallo’s life after the accident has been very successful. As a consultant to the music industry, he met entertainers such as Elton John. He played wheelchair basketball for a Chicago Bulls-sponsored team and represented the U.S. in international play.

“There’s maybe 1,000 things I can’t do because I’m in a wheelchair, and maybe 10,000 things I can still do,” Gallo said.

Gallo cautioned the students that improper decisions could not only cost them their lives, but also the lives of their friends or family members or, one day, their children. He said that remembering certain statistics is helpful. For example, he said that by midnight on any given night, one of every four drivers on the road is intoxicated. By 2 a.m., that figure increases to every other driver being drunk -- 50 percent.

“In this room could be great doctors, great lawyers, great pilots, great athletes, great parents,” Gallo said. "It takes hard work to do any of that. One bad choice and all this hard work goes for nothing.”

Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.

Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.

Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.

Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.

Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 250 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.

In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.

Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229. .