COLUMBUS - Convincing the invincible to stay safe can be a tough job. But that's just what teachers and instructors set out to do at Platte Center Elementary School on Friday.
Students in grades K-8 spent their day at several stations set up throughout the school. The sessions dealt with safety issues children could find in their home and recreation.
"Our kids are rural, so we had areas that we thought were relative to their safety," Principal Pat Meyer said.
Nebraska State Patrol Community Service Officer Bill Price came equipped with a roll-over simulator - the cab of a standard Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck attached to a machine that spins it at 30 mph.
"It shows you what happens when you don't wear your seatbelt in a 30 mph accident," Price told the students.
A life-sized adult and baby mannequin are placed in the car, and Price first showed the children what happens when the car rolls while people are using their seat belts.
The adult stays in his seat, even when the car stops upside down.
When the belt was unbuckled and the car began to spin, the children oohed and ahed as first the mannequin's hands and feet, and then the dummy himself, was thrown from the window.
The baby was correctly placed in a car seat, but Price also showed the children the damage a flailing adult can do to a stationary child.
"You can be very powerful and very strong, and you can tell your mom and dad to wear their seat belts," Price told the group.
Throughout the day, children were split into two groups, one consisting of kindergarten through fourth-graders, and the other had fifth- through eighth-graders.
Chad Korth of Nebraska Central Railroad talked to the children about railroad safety, a presentation made more personal by his own experience as an engineer, and rail crossing tragedies that befell those he knew.
"Being an engineer, operating the trains and seeing some of the close calls and some of the other things around crossings" gives him good material for his talks, Korth said.
Internet safety was tackled by Columbus Police Officer Jodi Hefti.
"I teach the kids they need to be safe in their cyber community, just like they need to be safe in their real community," Hefti said.
That safety is centered around not divulging any personal information, including being careful in choosing a screen name that does not reveal anything about themselves.
The children also had a chance to look themselves up on the Internet to see just how easy it is to find things out about someone and how much information is out there about themselves.
From the 4-H Enrichment Program were Jim Mueller and Lisa Kaslon.
Mueller spent his morning talking about all-terrain vehicle safety and his afternoon speaking about bicycles. The lessons included rules of the state and the road, as well as how things work, proper etiquette and hand signals. Much of it is new to the students, he said, and he encouraged them to go home and share what they learned with their parents.
Kaslon focused on home safety, such as what items should be included in a first aid kit and how to handle home emergencies.
Fire, gun and grain bin safety, among other topics, were also discussed with the students.
Reach Heather Koontz at 563-7528 or hkoontz@co
lumbustelegram.com.
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