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Danbury High Celebrates Safe Driving Contest With Check For $100,000

DANBURY, Conn. -- An assembly of cheering Danbury High School students was presented Thursday morning with a giant check for $100,000 for making a simple promise to practice safe driving habits -- and for motivating tens of thousands of other people to take the same pledge. 

The Danbury High School cheerleaders spell out the size of the prize at Thursday's assembly.

The Danbury High School cheerleaders spell out the size of the prize at Thursday's assembly.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa
Mayor Mark Boughton and State Farm agents Tom Huse and Maria Ordonez pose with the students and the big check on the Danbury High auditorium stage.

Mayor Mark Boughton and State Farm agents Tom Huse and Maria Ordonez pose with the students and the big check on the Danbury High auditorium stage.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa
Students show off their Celebrate My Drive T-shirts in front of the giant poster they set up at the mall to spur interest in the online competition.

Students show off their Celebrate My Drive T-shirts in front of the giant poster they set up at the mall to spur interest in the online competition.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa
Students pose with the $100,000 check from State Farm. Suggestion boxes will be set up to gather ideas on how to spend the money.

Students pose with the $100,000 check from State Farm. Suggestion boxes will be set up to gather ideas on how to spend the money.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa
An all-male acapella group entertains the Danbury High assembly -- the next best thing to Kelly Clarkson.

An all-male acapella group entertains the Danbury High assembly -- the next best thing to Kelly Clarkson.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa
Students pose with the $100,000 check from State Farm. Suggestion boxes will be set up to gather ideas on how to spend the money.

Students pose with the $100,000 check from State Farm. Suggestion boxes will be set up to gather ideas on how to spend the money.

Photo Credit: Karen Tensa

A group of students spearheaded an effort in October to rally residents of the city and beyond to take part in the "Celebrate My Drive" online challenge from State Farm Insurance. 

As a result of their efforts, Danbury High scored in the Top 5 of the 3,600 schools that took part and earned the six-figure reward. 

"I can't tell you how proud I am of you," Principal Gary Bocaccio boomed across the standing-room-only crowd of juniors and seniors jammed in a freezing auditorium. "Your work has been amazing! Where are the seniors? You accomplished something that no class has ever accomplished. This will be forever remembered at Danbury High."

Bocaccio then issued a challenge to the junior class. "Next year we must win this contest!" he said to cheers from the underclassmen.

Danbury High may have missed out on the grand prize this year -- which would have also included a concert from pop singer Kelly Clarkson -- but a group of senior boys offered a bit of celebration in song at the assembly instead. 

The group -- all dressed in jeans, white shirts and ties -- hit the stage and began an a capella version of "We Are The Champions." As the students in the crowd caught on, they joined in singing the chorus.  

Nick Mortara, 17, explained how participation in the contest grew. "We were in an accident early in the school year -- it was bad, we hit another car head-on," said Mortara, a senior and president of DECA. "We wanted to promote safe driving for now and for the rest of our lives." 

The students in DECA, a business and marketing club, teamed with others from a Peer Leadership class and the student Board of Governors to promote the contest. 

"I didn't think it would be this big, by any means," Mortara said of what became a communitywide event. But the students went to work, spending hours after school setting up rallying points. They visited local businesses, used social media and pounded the pavement to spread the word.

The Microsoft store in the Danbury Fair Mall allowed the kids to set up shop for the week that the contest ran, signing up shoppers as they walked by.  

"People saw us there and saw how we were at the top of the leader board and voted for us, even if they weren't from Danbury," Nick said. 

At the assembly on Thursday, the students thanked Mayor Mark Boughton as an enthusiastic supporter of the contest. "He was in it to win it. He planned, he coordinated, and, of course, he tweeted," said Board of Governors President Nick Goetz of the mayor's efforts. 

"I taught in this school for 14 years and I've been mayor of the city for 12 and I've never seen the community rally they way they did," Boughton said. "I'm so proud of the kids."

The giant $100,000 check was presented by State Farm agents Tom Huse, a Danbury High graduate, and Maria Ordonez, to a cheer of "Go Hatters!"

Now it's up to the students and staff to decide how to spend the money. Suggestion boxes will be set up around school, Goetz said. A total of 10 percent must be set aside for a safe driving initiative, which can include work on next year's contest. 

State Farm did not say how many voters took the online pledge on behalf of Danbury High, but numbers during the contest showed it going into the five- and six-digit range for the school. The grand prize winning school was not announced.

To read more about the Danbury High efforts in the contest, check out this story on The Daily Voice.

The contest ran during National Teen Driver Safety Week of Oct. 18 through Oct. 26. To learn about the initiative, visit the website at www.celebratemydrive.com

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