The new Alive at 25 program for South Carolina is meant to extend the lives of young drivers. The program will be offered May 16 at 9:00 a.m. and will be mandatory for underclassmen who plan to drive to school.

The course will be held on campus for four and a half hours.

Principal Ty Dawkins hopes the new requirement will help get students past the most dangerous part of their lives.

“Vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for people between the ages of 15 to 24. We want to prevent that,” Dawkins said.

These measures to prevent accidents do not only include state requirements, but also some actions Dawkins is taking himself.

Driver’s Education will be offered this summer for the first time and seat belt laws will be enforced on campus.

Dawkins also plans on making the Alive at 25 program as available as possible to Chapman students.

“Starting this summer we are going to try our best to offer it every other month. I’m hoping that all that want to take it will have the chance to take it,” Dawkins said.

If a student does not take the class through Chapman, they will have to pay a $35 class fee to enroll.

Junior Mackenzie Stewart will be taking the class through Chapman with the hope that it will be an educational experience.

“I feel like a lot of students got frustrated with having to take the class, but I think it will help us at some point in our lives,” Stewart said.

Some students feel that the Driver’s Education class has a lot in common with Alive at 25.

“I don’t feel like Alive at 25 and Driver’s Ed are that different. Coach Carr brought in people to talk to us about drinking and driving, texting and driving, and did activities involving golf carts to make us more aware,” Sophomore Taylor Mathis said.

Mathis also believes that if the student doesn’t care, the program will not be effective so it is up to the coordinators of Alive at 25 to manage an interesting class to provoke a response.

“In my opinion, Driver’s Ed gives the same effects to students. If they didn’t care then, they probably won’t care about the Alive at 25 program.”

Driver’s Ed instructor Kevin Carr has provided everything he was capable of in the time he was able, but feels that the new program has the ability to provide more in a compact time period.

“Driver’s Ed focuses more on driving mechanics, whereas Alive at 25 is more about decision making. I can get people, but it’s more spread out, they get a few more things in that one particular time,” Carr said.

Mathis hopes that the course at least covers prominent issues with teen drivers.

“Texting and driving and speeding are so important to go over because we’ve lost good friends here and from Landrum recently,” Mathis said.

Carr’s hopes for the program are similar to Mathis’.

“I only get half of the students in the grade, if that. This program will reach more students than Driver’s Ed and will bring in important resources like local police departments, people that have been affected by a car accident,” Carr said. “I feel like some of the speakers will have the power to grab hold of some students and make them realize that accidents happen. It’s real.”