Would You Rather… Experience Virtual Reality or Driving Trivia?

Last week Freshman Seminar classes celebrated the end of the year and acknowledged what comes next – driving!!! Students rotated through each of three stations during their last class of the year. Thanks to the Winston Trust Technology and Teenagers grant, “Driving Dean Jester” gave students the opportunity to experience a distracted driving simulation using virtual reality. At the “Would You Rather…?” station, Mrs. Bow ’79 posed questions like “Would you rather show how much you care about your partner online or in person?’ and discussion about students’ choices followed. A “Drive-In Trivia” session with Mr. Senesac ’90 provided a Jeopardy-style quiz with questions they might see on their driving tests as well as strange facts like “According to Florida law when this animal is parked in front of a parking meter it must pay for parking?” The two correct answers are: an elephant and an alligator!

“Our goal for this event was for students to understand how technology could impact driving and healthy relationships. The students were able to discuss their comfort level and feelings on many different topics such as friends tracking each other, someone posting their image without permission, and would they report if one of their friends were in danger,” said Tracy Jester, Dean of Students. “We also were able to have the students participate in a virtual reality texting and driving simulation and set up the “Do Not Disturb” feature in an attempt to be proactive prior to them getting behind the wheel. We hope that this will be a good first step in helping the students understand the benefits of technology and also the potential dangers when used incorrectly.”