Scholarship Finalist Essay
Danielle Finazzo
Major: Psychology
School: Irvine Valley College
The accidents transpire like clockwork now. At least once a month I’ll hear that a friend totaled their car, or a cousin got hit on their way home. Last week my godmother didn’t see the car coming and in January my grandpa didn’t react fast enough. If it’s a good month then it’s just a knee injury or a neck ache, but sometimes people die. The common denominator is always alcohol. They say it would have happened anyway, that they only had a few drinks. But excuses won’t fix your paint job or bring a life back.
My mother’s lifelong best friend is a loving father, a devoted husband, and a killer. He struck a college student on his way home from a party on the beach. He had stayed until after dark to pick up trash left in the sand. She was 22 years old and a biology major. He stopped immediately, called for help, and gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived. She was pronounced dead on arrival. Later, after he had been sentenced to a year in prison, the only explanation he could offer her grieving parents was that it was dark, and he was drunk.
I was involved in three separate car accidents during my first week of college. All of which where I was the sole sober participant. The first terrified me. I had never even had to speak to the police before. The second scratched her car’s paint and shattered my windows. The third made my mom cry. Say what you will about my driving, but I was a pedestrian in two out of three accidents.
I grew up with Sloane. We met when we were 7 years old. She was always a little impulsive, but before the accident, we always phrased it as spontaneous. It’s part of what made her so magnetic. She bought a blood-red mustang on a whim. She never planned to audition for that commercial, but she got a call back anyway. It didn’t matter that she had drank close to a dozen shots that night, she was going to drive home anyway. I guess she was just spontaneous like that. When it comes down to it, there really isn’t much of a distinction between an impulsive person and a reckless person. They both make very similar decisions. The outcome of Sloane’s actions doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Just another statistic for people to ignore until it happens to them.
Danielle Finazzo is one of six finalists for the Johnson Attorneys Group Never Drink and Drive $1,000 scholarship for spring 2022. The winner will be announced later this month.
- Major Crash Highway 101, Candlestick Park in San Francisco - April 24, 2024
- Anthony Quinones Fatal Motorcycle Accident Mills Avenue, Whittier - April 24, 2024
- Anthony Molina Pedestrian Accident Marshall Boulevard in San Bernardino - April 24, 2024
