FORT STOCKTON, Texas — (BEFORE WATCHING, NOTE THAT THIS PROJECT CAN BE TRIGGERING. VIDEO DISCRETION IS ADVISED.)
It takes one mistake to change, or end, a life.
That's definitely the case when it comes to fatal car accidents.
"Every time we leave the house, we don't think about anything," Fort Stockton High School student Jose Sarbia said. "We think, 'oh, it won't happen to me', but realistically it can happen to you in a blink of an eye."
Fort Stockton High School knows the danger of reckless driving. That’s why they participated in a powerful and unfortunately relatable film project.
Collette Barragan is the CTE Department Head at Fort Stockton High School and organizer of the project.
"Shattered Dreams is a project that schools do to hopefully influence their kids about making the right decisions between drinking and driving, unsafe driving, no seat belts, texting, really, a general of unsafe driving," Barragan said. "This one we chose to do the donut shop, which is local because it's something that the kids go to all the time and street racing to the school, which happens all the time."
In the 23-minute final product, it begins as innocent as getting a donut at a donut shop.
But like real life accidents, things can change in an instant, as the characters in the project decide to race to school, hitting a child crossing the road in the process.
"Our intent was to help kids make better decisions when nobody is looking, because sometimes it's hard," said assistant superintendent and actor in the film Gilrey Madrid.
"My whole thing in this whole project was I wanted everything to be as real as possible," said Tristian Barragan, a camera operator. "Like it had to be real, you know, just so we could make the most impact, we can't just-- we didn't want it to be like, oh, we're acting, you know, it was. This is actually happening. That's what I wanted."
And to make that realism happen, almost the whole community of Fort Stockton pitched in, including the EMT, Fort Stockton Police Department, Pecos County Sheriff’s Office and many more people.
"It was a huge production," Collette said. "So we had Affordable Towing here in Fort Stockton and the Macia’s that provided the wrecked cars when we staged the accident."
Showing how important it is to the Fort Stockton community to spread this important message.
"I think that it gives a meaning to the kids," Collette said. "And I've always said if it saves one life then it's worth it. If it makes one difference, it's worth it. And I truly believe that the people that we had doing it this year wanted to make a statement to make a difference."
With this project being a huge success, stars are born, including Eli Cordero.
"My role is the silent boy who walks into the donut shop and gets run over by a car," Cordero said.
"I wanted to show minors being injured. I wanted to make this real of what really could happen," Collette said. "He had to act hurt and he was super serious about it. He's an incredible student, incredible actor."
Two more stars were the assistant superintendent and his son, who were also killed in the crash, further bonding them together in real life.
"We had a great time," Madrid said. "And I was just surprised knowing how he is that he was able to play dead and not move for two hours. And so it was a great experience."
Another star was Jose Sarbia, the boy who died after going through the windshield.
"They told me that I was going to be through the windshield," Sarbia said. "And so I was mentally preparing myself for it, because on that day it was extremely hot, that I know the vehicle would get hot as well. So I was mentally preparing myself, mentally preparing my body just to stay still as possible, not to move as much and it."
At the end of the film, authorities notified Sarbia's mother in the film of his death.
And in real life, that's his actual mother as well.
"I'm actually crying," said Claudia Jimenez, the mother. "I broke down afterwards."
That's because this project feels all to real for this mother and son.
"So the reason that for us it hits home is his biological father passed away in a car accident. He was killed by a drunk driver when he was about 3 weeks old," Jimenez said. "So to us, we know how reckless driving can change your life in the blink of an eye and forever. To me it was hard, you know, because it kind of brought back a lot of emotions. But at the same time, we do want to help people understand that, you know, be responsible because you can affect not only your life but somebody else's life forever."
So while this project was fiction, real life accidents aren’t.
"I am very proud that you're willing to do this to put that message out there for people to understand that reckless driving can and will affect families forever," Jimenez said to her son.
So with this project out and being shown to many people, the hope is that it can help others not make the decision that could change theirs, and others, lives forever.