“That was fun!” senior Kathleen McTighe said as she stepped out of the car and around the cameraman to join a circle of friends in the RHS parking lot.

McTighe was posing for the American Automobile Association (AAA) Traffic Safety Advocacy photo shoot at RHS Sept. 17 and was one of around 30 RHS students who took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the shoot.

RHS caught the attention of photo shoot coordinators Rhonda Shah, Joe Beddick and Jennifer Davidson through Meadow Hall ES, an RHS feeder school with a very strong Safety Patrol program. The administrators at Meadow Hall ES recommended that they shoot at RHS in addition to their school, referencing the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) program as a proponent of safety advocacy.

“It was kind of random that we were picked, but we’re happy,” Assistant School Administrator Michelle Sobers said.

Students, whose parents had to sign model release forms before partaking in the shoot, were asked to go through various different posesa��including riding bikes, crossing the street and driving a car. The students had to mimic both good and bad safety etiquette.

Montgomery County police officer John Johnson believes that participation in the shoot and the resulting safety advertising and marketing is very important.

“We really want to get that message out to kids. This is an excellent way for high school students to say, “Let’s not do this. Let’s do this,a��” Johnson said.

Learning for Independence (LFI) students also stopped by the photo shoot. Every day, these students go for a walk into the community, where they practice safety skills such as looking both ways before crossing a street and walking on the crosswalk. On the day of the shoot, they cut their walk short.

“This is helping them to be safe a�� We have a couple that think it’s fine to run across the street. Like, “I’m a teenager and nothing’s going to happen to me,a��” LFI teacher Dawn Rundhammer said.