Teacher gets kids to "Be in the Click"

"For me personally it was devastating," said Kemp, now 40. "I had two of the three students in class and they were great kids. I know people always say that about kids, but these were really neat, funny, polite and just normal kids. The students that I had in the classes with these two students were really brought down to earth when they walked into the room and there was the seat that their friend and classmate sat in just a few hours before, and now he/she was gone for good. It was very eye opening to all of the kids and faculty."

Seat belts are one of the most effective safety devices in vehicles and could reduce the risks of fatal injury by about 45 percent in cars and by 60 percent in light trucks, according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA).

An estimated $26 billion could be saved annually in medical care, lost productivity, and injuries if everyone buckled up, according to NHSA.

Even with these staggering numbers, national studies show that only about 67 percent of people actually use their seat belts.

Kemp began Be In the Click in the 1999-2000 school year. The goal of the program is to prevent motor vehicle deaths and injuries caused by not wearing seat belts and to change the way people, especially students, view wearing seat belts, Kemp said.

A team of students and staff work hard to get the message out. The Click holds assemblies; conducts surveys, pledge card signings and random checks of seat belt usages; utilizes incentives and drawings; designs t-shirts; has a pledge week; and does much more to publicize the benefits of wearing a seat belt.

"The Click is now just a normal part of our school culture," said Kemp. "It's just like anything else that our school offers students. They just know that the Click is here and why it's here, and respond to the message."

The program has been a huge success. During the first year of implementing the program, seat belt usage increased from 61 percent to 84 percent at Centennial High School. During an audit in the spring of 2002, the school achieved a perfect 100 percent usage.

Be in the Click has spread to other schools in the county and country. By the end of 2002, the average seat belt usage for all schools in the Click was 85 percent, which is 10 percent higher then the United States average.

Kemp and a group of students would conduct random checks in the school parking lot to see if students were wearing their seat belts.

"We gave the ones that were wearing their seat belts Lifesavers and the ones that weren't Dum-Dum suckers," said Kemp. "We had three unannounced seat belt audits that year and that is how we got the percentages. We continue to do these audits, so the kids never know when we are checking."

Be in the Click is hoping to eventually have schools across the country implementing its program. They are currently working on a set of children's books for elementary school kids, according to Kemp.

"When kids hear Be in the Click, we are hoping it is synonymous with put your seat belt on," said Kemp.

Kemp was recently selected as one of the three finalists for the Volvo for Life Awards, under the category of safety. The Volvo for Life Awards is the largest national search for everyday heroes. The winner of each category will be presented with a $50,000 contribution to the charity of their choice. The overall winner will receive a new Volvo every three years for life and be named America's Greatest Hometown Hero. To learn more about the awards, visit www.volvoforlifeawards.com.

Despite the generous nomination, Kemp said he is just doing something that should come naturally for anybody who cares for others.

"I love the old teacher adage that 'kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care,'" said Kemp. "What better way for teachers to show their students that they care about them than showing them we care about not only their test scores, but their lives as well? I am tough on the kids I teach because I want them to see that the decisions they make today inside the classroom and outside of it will impact the rest of their lives."