By Mary Whitfill
Staff Writer
The latest fundraiser for the senior prom includes bumper stickers, student drivers and lots of parent advertising.
IonKidz is a program dedicated to making the roads safe from student drivers. The program was created by concerned mothers in Flower Mound earlier this year. The fundraiser is selling of ‘How Am I Driving’ stickers to the parents of student drivers. The goal is to promote safe drivers who are conscious of what is going on while they are behind the wheel. Sophomore and junior parents are the target audience because they are the most inexperienced drivers, but they are advertising to the freshman parents as well, as the freshman go through drivers ed.
“The main goal is for sophomore and juniors to have the stickers on their cars to make them more aware of what is going on around them,” sophomore class sponsor Clara Caussey said.
The stickers have a main number on the back which leads to the IonKidz main office. When a caller calls to report an unsafe driver, they report the license plate and the problem is logged. The message is then forwarded to the email address connected to the registered vehicle.
Account registration is $50 and lasts a total of 12 months. Once registered, the vehicle and driver receive an account in the IonKidz database, and the decal and a confirmation letter are delivered to the address provided. If a house has more than one teenage driver, each vehicle can be separately registered on the site.
“If my parents registered, I would be concerned because they would be very upset if I got a call,” sophomore Monse Gonzales said. “That would make me nervous and would affect my driving.”
Schools across the North Dallas area are participating in this fundraiser, for a six week campaigning period and only one campaign is active at a time. High schools such as Marcus, Flower Mound, Hebron, Lewisville, and Highland Park are all supporting the IonKidz organization.
“We want to have a district wide competition with as many schools as possible promoting teenage driving safety,” parent Kristi Clift said.
For each decal that is sold CHS will receive 20 percent of the profits, $10 per sticker. In keeping with the hopes of a district competition, the winner will receive an additional $5 per decal sold, plus the original promised $20. If the people who register for the program under CHS choose to renew after a year, Coppell will continue to receive part of the profit. CHS can continue to receive credit for stickers purchased out of area, as long as it is listed on the registration form.
The concept is simple and not marketed door-to-door. Sophomore class officers are advertising to parents with student drivers. They have started to pass out flyers, beginning with curriculum night. They will also be advertising in front of the home football game on Oct. 30.
“We want to scare students in to driving safely,” Caussey said.
