By Jack McDermott

Online Managing Editor

Junior Jessica Smith and junior Brittney Warke decided to bring to Prospect a competition where the school that gets the most signatures from students, staff and community members vowing not to text and drive will receive a free concert from Kelly Clarkson for Smith and Warke’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) project.  Also, there will be ten $100,000 prizes awarded and 90 $25,000 prizes for the top 100 schools with the most signatures.

The competition has been going since Oct. 18, but Smith and Warke only started collecting signatures last Sunday the 20th through email and have had a booth set up since Monday the 21st just outside the cafeteria.

So far, Prospect has done pretty well, ranking as high as 97th with about 3000 commitments at that time, and Smith believes that Prospect has a pretty good shot at winning the $25,000 grant.

“Once word got out about the prizes, the turnout has been better,” Smith said.

Smith and Warke have been getting the word out through videos on the morning announcements and emails sent to community members and staff.

Although most students have been motivated by the possibility of prizes, junior Alexandra Gorodiski made the commitment because “it is important to realize that being a safe driver can help others on the road and getting our school 25,000 could be really helpful.”

So far, Gorodiski has signed up four times and plans on continuing; students are allowed to sign up once a day until the competition ends Oct. 26.

To sign up, you have to be over 14 and ready to make an honest commitment, because according to Smith, the prizes are nice, but helping to end texting-while-driving related crashes is much more important.

“I’d say getting the word out about how high the risks are of distracted driving or driving on not enough sleep is the most important part of the competition,” Smith said.