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Schools

A Day of Awareness at Rockville High

Motivational speaker Sarah Panzau discusses how one bad choice can alter the course of not just students' lives but everyone's around them.

The theme revolved around choices, and for Rockville High School students, drinking and driving awareness was spiked right at them on Thursday.

And the speaker was Sarah Panzau, an advocate for drinking and driving awareness.

Panzau once had it all going for her. She was a successful student-athlete and was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association All-American team as an outside hitter while in school.  

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Life, however,  took an unforeseen turn when Panzau was in a drunken driving accident. She had her left arm severed, and her jaw was broken in seven places. Panzau now travels the country telling her story to high school students to make them aware of how all choices have inherent consequences.

In the fall of 2003 Panzau’s car had spun out of control on Highway 65 in Missouri. Panzau had a blood alcohol that was nearly four times the legal limit. Panzau’s car rolled four times and landed on its roof after she missed a highway exit. Panzau, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car through the back windshield. She landed in the roadway.

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Panzau was never charged with a crime because no one else was involved in the crash, and doctors had given Panzau a zero percent chance of survival. She said the police felt that if she did survive,  the situation she was in would be punishment enough.

A year later, Panzau began to speak to students in her home state of Illinois about poor decisions that led to the accident. In 2005, Panzau became a member of the Anheuser-Busch Speaker Bureau and after a year of speaking regionally in the Midwest, Panzau began to speak nationally about the accident.

The message Panzau wanted to convey to students was if they male a choice to drink alcohol, they should also make the choice not to drive. She stressed the notion that students can simply call a parent or guardian for a ride.

“I feared the consequences too, so I didn’t call my mom, but I should have because she would have been there for me, and so will your parents.” Panzau said. 

Panzau went on to add, “I am living proof of what can happen when you make poor choices.”

In 2006 Panzau tried out and joined the USA Women’s Sitting Volleyball team and competed in the World Championships.

General responses from the majority of the student body were positive. 

During her presentation, Panzau encouraged students to look out for each other and reminded them to seek help, if needed. Panzau also touched on the difficulties she has encountered as a result for her disabling injury, including a lack of social acceptance. Panzau relayed that, before the accident, she was very popular.

After the crash, Panzau said people treated her differently. Panzau encouraged students not to let physical disabilities bias their thinking and to show tolerance and acceptance of others.

“We are so quick to judge, and you might miss out on something special if you judge others too quickly.” Panzau said.

Hartford Distributors teamed up with Anheuser-Busch to present the program.

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