Being awarded the 2024 Prepared for Life (PFL) Scholarship is an honor and a privilege that I will forever cherish. Being awarded this scholarship is an incredible blessing as I continue my education at the University of Georgia. Continuing my own education on safe driving with the Lutzie 43 Foundation and continuing to educate others on their touching initiative to end distracted, impaired and unsafe driving is my passion.
I first learned about the Lutzie 43 Foundation in my junior year of high school at Cherokee Bluff High School. I was part of a servant leadership program called Legacy, in which each year you grow your experiences with helping the community. In preparation of my senior year, where we have to create our own servant leadership project, my small group of Annie Gwinn, Lola Peck and I decided to reach out to the Lutzie 43 Foundation. We chose to reach out after a tragedy in our community showing us that awareness needed to be shared with our community on impaired driving. We saw the direct impact that was made in our community following the loss. Upon reaching out to the Lutzie 43 team in February of 2023, they were courteous and invited us and twenty-five Legacy students to their Safe Driving Summit at Lanier Technical College. That experience will forever change my perspective on driving and the dangers of unsafe driving. At the start of the summit the Lutzie 43 team shared a video about Philip Lutzenkirchen and his outstanding caring and kind characteristics. He impacted everyone who surrounded him and he continued to always serve his community. Watching the video that day, I could not help but to come to tears with his story, how such a loved son, brother, and friend lost his life from impaired driving. My group members and I introduced ourselves to Mike Lutzenkirchen, thanked him for his invitation, and our teacher Mrs. Lundrigan took a picture of us with Mike and discussed working with him in the future. Not only did the story of Philip touch my heart, it pulled me to create a change. From that point forward I knew the only choice was to work with the Lutzie 43 Foundation. This organization is more than just a foundation, it is a family willing to take their experience and prevent it from happening to anyone else.
After attending the summit that day in February, we kept in touch with the Lutzie 43 team. At the end of junior year, Mike gave us an exciting call in which he offered to do the first ever Safe Driving Summit on a high school campus, being Cherokee Bluff as the first. I was ecstatic at the idea of giving to my school the knowledge and experience that the Safe Driving Summits bring. So that summer we worked with Mike and Abby planning the summit over zoom call meetings. I will always appreciate their belief in us three girls and trying a new idea for us. After planning the details of the summit we all decided to make the day on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, being mindful that there was a heightened possibility of distracted, impaired and unsafe driving. On August 30th, 2023 we successfully educated 1100 students, faculty, news outlets, and families on the dangers of unsafe driving. We left 300 students through the four rotation groups with personal experiences and examples of the actualities of impaired and distracted driving. I could not thank the Lutzie 43 team enough for all allowing this to happen and believing in not only our group but also me personally to carry out such an impactful event. I could not have done it without their continuous encouragement and kind words. It has changed my life for the absolute better, the Lutzie 43 message and passion is entrenched into my life, it is not just a message it is a lifestyle.
It makes your viewpoint on everything change, you constantly think about your parents, your friends, your grandparents, and your community and how much they mean to you. The Lutzie 43 message makes you want to educate others and continue to remind them to drive safely. You are constantly reminded with the 43 Key Seconds safe driving initiative to have a clear head, clear hands, clear eyes, and click your seatbelt before you drive. Many of my close friends and students who all received the 43 Key Seconds key from my school have told me the impact it has to remind them to make sure they complete the checklist before driving.
Personally a huge impact and probably the most transformative part of Lutzie 43’s mission is the highlight of Philip Lutzenkirchen’s character and it is really what captivated me. His constant work with his own community and staying humble despite his achievements will forever inspire me to continue my work with servant leadership. Showing leadership, kindness, and selflessness are all pertinent in the growth of my own characteristics because of Philip. His constant efforts to make people smile and always help others is what I strive to be in the future and what I strive to come close to each day. I want to continue to serve my community and educate others on safe driving because of his honor and his lasting imprint on my character.
I will be permanently changed because of my involvement with the Lutzie 43 Foundation. I want to say an incredible thank you to the Lutzie 43 Foundation for giving me this opportunity to become an ambassador for safe driving and your personal mission. I will continue to spread education in any place I find myself. I thank the Lutzie 43 Foundation for making an effort to the young generation and remind them of what is important in our lives. They continuously share their love and continue to share through PFL Scholarship recipients. This opportunity is tremendously more than just a scholarship, it is an effort to spread this message for years to come. Finally, I thank the Lutzie 43 team for guiding me to widening my perspective in which maintains my focus on what is actually important, driving safely.
