A special guest shook the Miami Palmetto Senior High School community on January 31, 2014. Ms. Jessica Leslie, a financial planner in Ft. Lauderdale, visited Palmetto to share her tragic story about drinking and driving. For six periods, Ms. Leslie taught, recalled and confessed the events that took her through the horrors and consequences of drunk driving.

Ms. Leslie started off her speech powerfully, describing her typical American childhood. She had big plans for the Arts field, and she wanted to join the air force. Proving that anyone is vulnerable to an alcohol-related accident. At 15, Ms. Leslie told herself that she would never drink and drive. However, this vow changed as she aged.

“I think that as we age and as we develop, and as we go through the different stages of school and life, our view changes, our life changes, our mentality changes, our environment changes,” Ms. Leslie said. “That’s exactly how it happened to me, and my mentality changed.”

November 23, 2014 shattered Ms. Leslie’s dreams and life plans. While intoxicates, Ms. Leslie  hit 41-year-old Mr. Patrick McDonough, who died instantly. Ms. Leslie awoke when her air bags went off. After running around and trying to figure out what happened, she realized that she had killed someone.

“I assume that when I started to drive that I didn’t feel as though I was impaired,” Ms. Leslie said.

The months and days that followed the incident were difficult, and the consequences were tough. Ms. Leslie joined a session with the Landmark Forum, a growth, training and development company. During her session, she read aloud a letter to home about her thoughts and feelings following the accident.

“It basically allowed the opportunity for me to realize that maybe there’s a reason I’m still alive,” Ms. Leslie said. “I have a least one freedom that no one can take away from me, and that is to choose the reason. My purpose is to try and prevent drinking and driving, and underage drinking, primarily drinking and driving.”

Even though Ms. Leslie made a smart decision with regards to her purpose in life, lifelong consequences came with accidentally killing Mr. McDonough. Ms. Leslie’s consequences included prison time, probation, a permanently revoked license, 500 hours of community service, and no civil rights.

“My sentence was obviously the first and the biggest consequence I would assume, other than having to live with it for the rest of my life,” Ms. Leslie said.

The impact of Ms. Leslie’s story came on very strong, as students typically hear drinking and driving stories from the victim’s point of view, or an adult’s lecture. However, Ms. Leslie’s story provided the other side, which gave an eye-opening view for Palmetto students. As teenagers, some students tend to drink without believing they will ever receive the consequences, but they now know a perspective that may make them think twice about their actions.

“Jessica’s story affected me in a way that had a much larger impact on me than any other speech about drinking and driving,” sophomore Elizabeth Bojorge said. “As a teenager, we only hear the side where adults are not condoning underage drinking. Rarely do we hear it from the perspective of a person who has a killed another because of being under the influence.”

Ms. Leslie gave helpful advice to students. “Think before you drink, because when you’re drinking, you’re not thinking,” she said in every speech. After her speech, several students approached Ms. Leslie, explaining their own stories and asking questions.

“Ideally what I would love is for people to have a plan,” Ms. Leslie said. “Before they are remotely close to a situation that they would have [my situation] as a possibility.”