Waubonsie Valley High School’s Athletes Against Dangerous Decisions (AADD) may sound like just another group to preach the dangers of drinking, driving and drugs, but the Aurora high school is one where very little preaching needs to be done these days. The community has provided that lesson to the students through two heartbreaking auto accidents caused by drunken drivers in less than a year.
“There isn’t a heck of a lot more to talk about here,” said Waubonsie coach and teacher Steve Luke, who founded AADD in the spring. “As a school, we have been as hard hit as you can be on the issue of drunken driving.”
AADD was formed in March after the February death of coach and teacher Jeff Still, whose car was hit by a drunken driver as he returned home from a Waubonsie basketball game. He was 28 and left behind a wife, June, and two small boys.
The other accident occurred Oct. 17 when three Waubonsie Valley High School girls and a 27-year-old Aurora mother were killed in a two-car collision police said was caused by a drunken driver. The school, still remembering Jeff Still, began grieving all over again.
Two of the girls were swimmers; one was a volleyball player. At the AADD meeting on Oct. 22, two days after the girls were buried, the number of students present rose from the usual 100 to 167, said AADD president Jason Jerome, a senior. “It’s the most we’ve ever had at a meeting.” The school has 2,800 students.
“I expect that even more of the students will become involved in AADD now,” Luke said. “We will have to wait to see how many will stay actively involved after they begin healing.
“We are not trying to form a group to preach but to be peer mentors. We want to show kids that you can enjoy life without making decisions that may ruin your life or the lives of others. A lot of kids look up to the athletes. If they can set that example, then maybe we can reach the younger kids.”
While AADD was organizing last spring, so was another group, Grizzlies Against Dangerous Decisions (GADD) at Granger Middle School nearby. Jeff Still was a coach and teacher at Granger and a coach at Waubonsie.
Still’s brother Jim Still, a 6th-grade teacher and coach at Granger, formed GADD, now the largest group in the school, with 250 of the 1,100 students taking part.
Both groups originally focused on building togetherness through social activities like rock climbing, movies and bowling, but community service quickly became the thrust of their work.
In the spring, AADD members helped June Still move into a new house with her two young sons.
“There were so many kids here that they had me unloaded in about 20 minutes,” June Still said. “I know Jeff would be very proud of them.”
Waubonsie students raised more than $20,000 for the Still boys’ education fund, and the GADD kids collected baby supplies (the boys are now 2 1/2 years and 10 months old).
At the end of the school year, the AADD students hosted a get-acquainted picnic and games for the younger GADD members.
“That day gave me a lot of confidence in the group,” Luke said. “The kids did all the work. We need to reach these kids in middle school, and who better to reach them than the athletes at the high school they’ll attend?”
Although targeted to athletes, anyone who wants to be drug and alcohol free is welcomed in AADD, Jerome said. Granger’s group is also open to the entire school.
Jim Still said GADD leaders often bring news accounts of drunken driving tragedies to school to increase awareness, but the focus is on decision-making and withstanding peer pressure.
“What we try to tell them is that you can’t just learn about it. You have to live it,” said Jim Still. “Unfortunately, what happened to my brother happens daily in America. If this group makes a difference in a handful of these kids, it has been worthwhile.
“We want them to know that there’s a real pressure and it’s going to happen to them. How can they make the right decision, and who can they turn to for help? Hopefully to someone else in their group.”
Jerome initially became involved because his family had gotten to know Jeff Still as his coach. “I felt it was only right to be in a group that was in his memory,” he said. “There’s always a need to get the message spread and for people to make a statement. Kids are introduced to alcohol long before they even have a driver’s license.”
Over the summer, AADD hosted a Jeff Still Camp of Dreams at Waubonsie, bringing in four pro football players, including Green Bay Packer Don Beebe, who grew up with Jeff Still. AADD members sold corporate sponsorships to pay the $200 fee for 15 kids from Urban Youth Ministry (UYM) in Aurora to attend the camp. UYM is a division of Wayside Cross Ministries, addressing the needs of inner-city disadvantaged youth.
“It’s a two-way street. Our kids get exposed to some things they wouldn’t normally get exposed to, and (AADD members) get to meet a segment of the community that normally they wouldn’t meet,” said UYM director John Bedell. “It’s one of the good things that came out of a tragedy.”
“It’s all in making the right choices in life,” Luke said. “You have athletes who say it’s not their responsibility to be good role models. But it is. If you want to be in a leading position, then you have to take the responsibility that goes with it.”
AADD meets at 6:50 a.m. each Wednesday to avoid conflicts with after-school practice schedules, but the early hour hasn’t scared kids away. They come ready to discuss ways they can help.
In late October, AADD students hoping to do some peer mentoring hosted a pizza party for 35 UYM kids before taking them to the varsity football game.
Indian Prairie School District 204 officials are hoping to get similar groups going at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville and the district’s other middle schools, Luke said. The district also recently announced that a new middle school opening in August 1999 will be named the Jeffrey C. Still Middle School.
