The story is all too familiar.
Teenagers discover a party where drugs and alcohol are available; their reasoning impaired, they accept a ride home from a friend who is also under the influence; a tragic accident ensues, and one of the teenagers dies; a grieving community wants to make sure it never happens again, but their efforts turn only to frustration.
That story played out again last fall when young Eric Quesada left such a party and lost his life when the car he was riding in—driven by another teen who police say was under the influence—careened off Hicks Road. Eric died over Thanksgiving weekend.
But this time the community was determined that a teenager—this teenager—would not die in vain. This time, with school administrators, town officials, the police department, parents and students leading the effort, the community has organized in an attempt to make a difference. An upcoming workshop will deal with the problem of teen alcohol and substance abuse, and the entire community is invited to participate.
"An Open and Honest Community Workshop About Life in Los Gatos" will be held March 8, from 1 to 5 p.m., in the Los Gatos High School gym with teen issues at the core of the program.
With "Alive ... and Loving Life" as its slogan, the workshop will address a number of issues: alcohol, drugs and sex; cops and kids; pressure and stress; kids, parents and other caring adults; and a passion to be alive and loving life.
There is something for everyone in the program that takes the concept of "It takes a village to raise a child" and truly hammers the point home.
Los Gatos Mayor Sandy Decker, Los GatosSaratoga Joint Union High School District Superintendent Cindy Ranii, Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch and Los GatosMonte Sereno Police Chief Scott Seaman are the leading players in the program.
"That's the core group—the center of the wheel," said Andrea Schneider, a consultant hired by the town to facilitate the workshop.
"Part of the project is to make cultural changes over time," she added. "This is a real can-do project."
But it will only be successful if local residents support it. The group's vision is "a safe community committed to sharing responsibility for each other while supporting youth to be healthy, capable and confident in life." To realize that goal, the group needs the participation of community members—parents, students and concerned residents—so that ideas may come out of the weekend workshop that will lead to the resolution of many teen issues.
We encourage residents to turn out on Saturday and participate so that this very important program will be successful. If it is, then Eric Quesada will not have died in vain.
We've already lost one of our children to a tragic accident—let's not sit idly by and let it happen again.
