Today would have been our friend Kurt Louis Myers’ 20^th birthday. An avid outdoorsman and fisherman who thought he might someday want to be a welder, Kurt – a Wheeling Park High School sophomore - suddenly and very tragically died Sept. 16, 2012. He was only 15. Kurt and some friends went to a party where they were drinking vodka. Kurt had too much to drink and friends dropped him off outside his home. He never made it inside the house. He died sometime that night and was found the next morning. He wasn’t a kid known to be a partier. He spent his time along the river with a fishing pole in his hand, riding his dirt bike or some other outside activity. But this one particular night – for whatever reason – he did something that cost him his life and left his family members and friends with a terrible loss. For the past four years, Kurt’s family has been bravely sharing his story to make young people – and all people – realize just how dangerous it is to consume too much alcohol and to beg everyone to never ever leave a person unattended who has consumed a lot of alcohol or drugs.

 

In 2015, the West Virginia Legislature passed the Alcohol and Drug Overdose Prevention and Clemency Act. That means the person who steps out to get help for a teenager – or anyone – who is passed out or unresponsive from drugs or alcohol will not get in trouble.

 

To drive these points home, the Lewis County High School mass communications class created a powerful video: “Do the Right Thing.”

 

The PSA is being shown school-wide today via the school’s educational access channel. The students have been asked to wear their boots for Kurt – who was rarely seen without sporting his. The “Keep the Boots Walking” campaign is yet another way to keep Kurt’s memory alive and to encourage conversation about his story. As part of the event, LCHS students will also sign a banner, pledging to do the right thing.

 

The kids’ PSA has been entered in the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration’s “No School Spirits” PSA contest. Last year, BHS captured the win through the work of Doug Soule and Laurel Muhly-Alexander which highlighted the dangers of drinking and driving. The school won $5,000, but more importantly, the PSA was converted into a cable broadcast and viewed by TV watchers statewide.

 

This year’s contest, sponsored by State Farm, offers the same opportunity for the winning video, which will be selected and announced Jan. 25.

 

Jan. 9, 2018 is a whole year away. I encourage and challenge Bridgeport High School and other high schools in West Virginia – or anywhere – to get on board with Kurt’s vital, life-saving message. Or choose your own awareness date. Make a video, hold an event, wear a T-shirt – or your boots – and tell someone about Kurt. You just might save a life.

 

Kurt's memory is kept alive at Wheeling Park High School, where the Kurt Myers Memorial Scholarship has been awarded and financial assistance otherwise granted to those in need. Kurt would have graduated in 2016. 

 

View the “Do the Right Thing” PSA HERE.

 

Read the original “Keep the Boots Walking” blog HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read “A Pardon for Partiers,” penned for Morgantown Magazine, HERE.

 

Editor's Note: Thank you Lesley Garton White, Lewis County High School mass communications teacher, for working with your students on this project and to LCHS teacher Pam Heaster, Kurt’s aunt, for the inspiration behind it. My continued love and admiration for Wil, Jackie, Greg and Lauren Myers, Grandma Harriet and the entire family. Through my daughter's marriage and through our church and shared faith, they have all become my family. 

 

Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine  on Twitter. 

 

More "It's Happening" HERE: "What 2016 Looked Like in the City of Bridgeport."