Rambam, SKA Receive $1K Grants to Promote Safe Driving

and were each recently awarded $1,000 grants by the Allstate Foundation to promote safe teenage driving.

The $1,000 Safe Teen Drive LI grants will be used to fund activism work that encourages responsible and smart driving by the school’s students, Allstate said in a release.

“As a school that prides itself on educating the next generation of leaders,” said Rambam Assistant Principal Hillel Goldman, “we are proud to be part of a program that empowers our students to exact positive change and increase awareness of the dangers of irresponsibly driving, especially for teens.”

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers, according to Allstate, since crash rates are the highest for 16- to 19-year-old drivers.

“We are thrilled with the program,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Rothman, principal of ninth and 10th grade at SKA. “The students do the entire thing on their own. … It definitely raises awareness for safe driving, which is what Allstate has in mind.”

He said that 11th grade students — who are chosen because they’re relatively new drivers — determine what they will do with they money. This year they created stickers and thumb rings telling others not to text and drive. Rothman said he believes their involvement makes the program more effective.

“We believe activism projects and events in every high school on Long Island will increase public awareness on this social epidemic,” said Allstate spokesperson Krista Conte, “and perhaps act as the reminder or light-bulb for a young driver who may be about to make a bad decision behind the wheel.”