A mock car crash was held at the Pittston Area High School parking lot for members of the senior class on Wednesday, May 20, organized by Drew and Marc Malvizzi.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
A Greater Pittston Regional Ambulance paramedic tends to the ‘injured’ during the mock car crash held at Pittston Area High School.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Luzerne County Coroner Dion Fernandes, center, loads the mock car crash ‘deceased’ into the van.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
One of the mock car crash ‘victims’ stands over her friend, who ‘died’ going through the windshield of the car at Pittston Area.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
A first responder covers the mock car ‘fatality’ at Pittston Area on Wednesday.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
YATESVILLE — A mock car crash was acted out Wednesday in Pittston Area High School’s back parking, presented to seniors and juniors.
A presentation by the law firm of Fellerman and Ceremboli was given to the students prior to the mock crash.
The mock crash has been presented every other year since 2015, first organized by Pittston Area alum, Drew Malvizzi, and currently teaming up with his brother Marc.
Drew is a firefighter with the City of Pittston, and Marc is with Plains Twp. and Jenkins Twp. Fire Dept.
“In 2015, when I was a senior, I was a part of the Stand Tall Club when we brought it back,” Drew Malvizzi said. “They had done it in years past, and it went dormant, so we brought it back, and when my brother Marc was a senior, he did it as well.”
Pittston Area student actors created a scene in which two vehicles collided head-on with casualties and fatalities.
“There are a few kids that it gets too, and there are some in the crowd with tears rolling down their face,” Malvizzi said. “It’s all in the re-enactors making it look real, and he shows how serious this really is.”
During the mock crash, first responders assessed the scene once they arrived, tending to the injured and removing the deceased.
“It shows how something like this could actually happen,” Pittston Area senior Taylor Stephenson said.
Classmate Mikalla Sarf agreed, “It’s really scary that this could happen in real life, and you never know what can happen.”
Pittston Area High School Principal Chris Lazevnick was taking in the mock car crash from the sidelines.
He said the presentation prior to the mock car crash was very powerful, and when the subject came up of a youth from North Pocono who died two years ago, it got very serious for the students.
“If that’s real (mock car crash), they could connect to it, if they relate to it, or they know somebody, or they relate to the kid up the street in North Pocono, because they actually border our school,” Lazevnick said. “It’s always good to show them the reality and at least put it in their mind that this could still happen.”
First responders participating in the event were members of Pittston Twp. Police, Jenkins Twp. Police, Greater Pittston Regional Ambulance, Laflin Fire Dept., City of Pittston Fire Dept., and Jenkins Twp. Fire Dept.
