DMVEDU.org
Scholarship Essay
Aiden Plumlee
Senior, Ada High
School
Ada, OK 74820
[email protected]


When you hear a statistic like 34,000 Americans die each year due to
automobile accidents it’s easy to be overwhelmed and lose sight
that each one of those 34,000 people left behind loved ones whose
lives will never be the same. Each one of those 34,000 people had
goals they wanted to accomplish, experiences that will never got to
be lived. For a moment let us look not at the tens of thousands
whose lives are cut short, let us look at one. One 17-year-old girl
whose outward beauty was only surpassed by her inner radiance. That
one girl’s name is Avery and she is the older sister to my lifelong
friend. Two years ago all of our lives were spun into chaos when
while driving distractedly she and her passenger were involved in a
head on collision. This happened shortly before I got my driver’s
license and enters my mind often while I am driving. Avery died at
the scene but was resuscitated but suffered a debilitating traumatic
brain injury. Avery never got to go on another foreign mission trip
(her passion), she didn’t get to graduate with her friends and go
off to OSU like all her other family members, she never married her
sweetheart who stayed by her bedside for months. In fact, Avery
never left her bed, she never spoke again, she never got to share her
smile that lights up a room. Avery is at home with her family while
they wait for her body to succumb to the ravages of her injuries.
All of this loss, all of this grief the result a single careless
moment. They say teenagers think they are immortal that it can’t
happen to them. I learned that isn’t the case. Avery was the best
of us and if it could happen to her in just an instant, I know it
could happen to me. So be safe out there.