Girl Scout goes for Gold (Award), crusades against texting while driving

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  The Gold Award, the equivalent of an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouting, is the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. The daughter of two Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) employees is using an unpleasant experience to help her earn that prestigious honor and provide a valuable community service at the same time.

Amber Wolfe, a senior at Coffee County Central High School, is conducting a community awareness campaign about the dangers of texting while driving after her parents "busted" her for doing the same thing. She lost her cell phone privileges for a couple of weeks due to her infraction, but the incident made her reflect on the dangers involved and gave her an idea for her Gold Award project.

"I only texted at stop lights or when I was stopped, but they said it was still dangerous because there were still other distracted drivers on the road that I had to pay attention to," Amber said. "And as a teenager it's very prevalent among us as an age group because we are attached at the hip to our phone. We feel the need to have constant contact with everybody.

"If I can help even one person think about not texting and driving, that will be one less person on the road doing it and one less distracted driver on the road who is not only a danger to themselves but a danger to everybody else on the road."

Amber said her project is made up of various components, which she is continuing to expand. She is especially focused on making her message available to the general public.

"I made up posters that I've hung up around the school," Amber explained. "I've also made up a Power Point presentation and delivered it to the driver's ed classes in my school and my English class. I've got pledges for people to sign saying they won't text behind the wheel.

"There's actually a video on YouTube [AT&T texting while driving] that shows people texting behind the wheel and the consequences of it. There have been people who died from it. There have been people permanently disabled from it."

Amber said she's investigating the possibility of getting a wrecked car placed in front of her high school with a sign indicating the wreck could have been the result of texting behind the wheel. She's planning on setting up a table at the AEDC Commissary Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., displaying her posters and encouraging people to sign the pledges not to text while driving. She also hopes for more presentations at school and plans to place the posters at other high-traffic locations.

Texting while driving an automobile is illegal in Tennessee and any use of a hand-held cell phone while driving within the AEDC fenced area is prohibited. In addition Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA), AEDC's operating contractor, forbids the use of hands-free devices while driving on base. That prohibition extends to off base if employees are driving on company business.

Amber said she's always known it was dangerous and research for her Girl Scout project has served to reinforce that danger in her mind.

"Studies have proven that it's as bad as having a blood alcohol content of .08," she said. "It reduces your brain activity by 37 percent when you're using the phone behind the wheel, so you're distracted constantly.

"Even if you don't look at the phone you still have to take your mind off of what you're doing. You still have to look at the phone to read the text. In the video it asks if you would close your eyes for six seconds going down the road. Reading a text is basically doing the same thing."

Amber's parents are Shawn Wolfe, who works in executive support for AEDC's Maintenance Division, and Dee Wolfe, AEDC education training specialist.

Dee said she's pleased that her daughter has embarked on the project.

"The fact that she learned how dangerous this is makes all the difference in the world. If she doesn't change the opinion of anybody else in the world, she changed her own opinion. That's all that matters to me - that she is a safe driver and she comes home safe every night."

Dee said she and Shawn have copies of the pledge in their AEDC offices in case anyone on base wants to sign one or take it home for their children to sign.

Amber is expected to spend a minimum of 80 hours to implement a well-rounded community project for her Gold Award, which could help her get into college and earn scholarships.

"Once I complete my 80 hours, I have to send the feedback from my project back to the Girl Scout Council in Nashville," Amber said. "They'll look at what I've done and they'll count up all of my hours [which I have to document]. They'll give me either a "yes" or a "no." If they say, "yes," there is an awards ceremony, probably in the spring in Nashville.

"I've been a Girl Scout for 13 years and I've gotten my Bronze and Silver Awards. I want to receive the highest award that a Girl Scout can get, which is the Gold Award. The Girl Scouts promote community service and making the world a better place and this Gold Award project is the epitome of it."