Metzger Wickersham law firm is pleased to announce the winners of its 10th annual student scholarship contest. The Road to Safety Scholarship Contest encourages graduating, college-bound high school seniors from Pennsylvania to enter a creative project about the dangers of drunk driving and/or distracted driving. Metzger Wickersham’s goal in hosting the contest is to spread awareness about the safety issues facing teens on the road today.
“As personal injury lawyers, we feel it is our civic duty to promote awareness about the consequences of risky driving behaviors,” said Metzger Wickersham attorney Zach Campbell. “The Road to Safety Scholarship is a way for us to give back to the community and get teenagers involved in spreading the word about important issues like distracted driving and driving while intoxicated.”
Students were asked to come up with a memorable, innovative and effective way to motivate drivers to be more safety-conscious behind the wheel. Sixty-three high school seniors throughout Pennsylvania submitted a variety of original entries, such as videos, illustrations, songs and posters for their chance to win college scholarship money.
Our first-place winner, Max Cavada, a senior at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School in Mechanicsburg, PA, unfortunately knows firsthand how critical this scholarship’s message is for drivers. Cavada shared, “I entered this competition with my song thinking mostly about a fatal car accident that happened a few years ago. A kid was texting and driving, he got into a crash which killed a parent of my classmate. It was a sad time for our community and I think about it a lot when I hear of distracted driving. I see people texting all the time while driving and I want to change that because it's only a matter of time before some of them get into a car accident. That's why I wrote the song I entered. It's a sad song, but it gets my point across.”
Our second-place winner, Jessica Greulich, a senior at West Chester East High School in West Chester, PA also shared, “I've seen the aftermath and tragedy of a car accident resulting from drunk driving and wanted to contribute my efforts to help prevent even one accident. A simple misjudgment can turn the lives of countless people upside down.”
Justin Lachnit, a senior at Spring Grove Area High School in Spring Grove, PA, won third-place with a video entry titled, One Try and You Could Die. Lachnit’s winning entry demonstrated the parallels of texting and driving with playing Russian roulette. “Most people would never willingly play Russian roulette because they aren’t comfortable gambling with their lives when the only two outcomes are that you will either live or die. However, that is the exact same case with texting and driving. Even the best gamblers sometimes lose it all.”
“We were highly impressed with the effort put forth by the students,” Campbell commented. “Distracted and drunk driving tragedies are fully preventable, and these students should be proud that they are helping to drive that message home.”
The following students were chosen as winners in Metzger Wickersham’s 2022 Road to Safety Scholarship Contest:
First Place Winner (Prize: $1,000 Scholarship)
- Max Cavada, Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School – Mechanicsburg, PA (Cumberland County) Plans to attend Pennsylvania State University and major in Civil Engineering.
- Project Title: Don’t Text and Drive Song
Second Place Winner (Prize: $750 Scholarship)
- Jessica Greulich, West Chester East High School – West Chester, PA (Chester County). Plans to attend West Chester University and major in Biology with a concentration in Ecology and Conservation.
- Project Title: Death Plays With Our Lives When You Drunk Drive
Third Place Winner (Prize: $500 Scholarship)
- Justin Lachnit, Spring Grove Area High School – Spring Grove, PA (York County). Plans to attend Central Penn College and Widener University Commonwealth Law School to pursue a Juris Doctor degree.
- Project Title: One Try and You Could Die
Please visit https://www.mwke.com/about-us/road-to-safety-scholarship/road-to-safety-winners-2022/ for more information about the winners and to view all 63 entries.
About Metzger Wickersham
Established in 1888 by Frank B. Wickersham, Metzger Wickersham is one of Pennsylvania’s oldest law firms. The firm’s practice areas include car and truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, social security disability, workers’ compensation, nursing home negligence, dog bites and other personal injury cases. Metzger Wickersham has eight offices located in Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pottsville, Shippensburg, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, and York. For more information, visit www.mwke.com.
