Katelyn Benner, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, is the winner of the 2024 David McKenzie Teen Drinking & Driving Prevention Scholarship.
This $2,500 award, granted by McKenzie Law Firm, P.C., is given annually to the college student who produces the best video PSA (public service announcement) highlighting the dangers of and solutions to teen drinking and driving.
A Drunk Teen Driver Once Upended Benner’s Life
For Benner, the subject of teen drinking is more than an academic interest or a distant news story: it has had a formative and very personal effect on her life.
“This scholarship topic is very important to me as I was struck by a 19-year-old drunk driver while walking home in 2022,” she explains in the questionnaire she submitted upon winning the scholarship. “My life was severely impacted[, as were] the lives of those nearest to me while [I was] recovering from my injuries.”
Thanks to support from her family, Benner was able to recuperate and continue her studies, but she has never forgotten how devastating the accident was for both her and the drunk driver. This experience continues to compel her to seek solutions to teen drinking.
Why do Teens Drink and Drive?
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), underage drinking contributes to around a quarter of all accidents involving teen drivers. As illuminating as this number is, it can never reflect the human toll of drunk driving crashes. As Benner says in her award-winning video, “Every statistic is a person.”
Benner’s video also states that the problem of teen drinking is complex, with many causes and no simple solution. However, she places one factor at the center of all the others: society’s continued normalization of teen drinking. Therefore, her solution is to repeatedly and publicly emphasize the unacceptability of drinking and driving.
“Every step taken by someone to stop drinking and driving” makes teen drinking seem less permissible, prevents teens from drinking, and saves lives, Benner says in her video.
What’s Next for Scholarship Winner Katelyn Benner
The David McKenzie Teen Drinking & Driving Prevention Scholarship will allow Benner to continue studying for her Master’s degree in athletic training, which she plans to complete in May 2025. After that, she may pursue a doctorate before finding work with a high school sports team or rodeo.
Benner believes that, by working with teen athletes, she will have even more opportunities to “educate others about the dangers of drunk driving by sharing my story and the effect it had not only on me but also the pre-med student that hit me.”
Whatever the future holds, McKenzie Law Firm, P.C., congratulates Katelyn Benner on winning this scholarship and is confident that she will make a positive difference everywhere life takes her.
