The Hampden County District Attorney’s office awarded Ludlow High School’s sports broadcasting class a $10,000 award for a public service announcement video that will be aired on WWLP-22News and the CW Springfield through the end of the summer.

“Stop the Swerve” is a campaign created by the Attorney’s Office to prevent impaired driving among high school students in Hampden county. Sixteen schools entered the contest and Ludlow took first.The entries were displayed at the Basketball Hall of Fame on March 31.

Juniors Dominic Coelho, Bill Reno, Ben Taylor, Matt Belden, Jordan Potter, and Andrew Conchinha produced the video with the help of their teacher, Mr. Michael Hill.

“The students … deserve the credit.  We had very little time to put together a video for submission and they were able to pull it off…. The students represented LHS very well,” said Hill, who is also the Ludlow Community TV manager.

This was the first year that Ludlow High offered the sports broadcasting class to students.

“Being the first sports broadcasting class at LHS, we had to make history by not only being the first, but the best class of all time,” said Reno.

According to Principal Lisa Nemeth, the money will be used for technology in the auditorium. Nothing specific has been decided yet.

The video depicts an impaired driver leaving a party in the early morning. The car swerves and soon crashes, killing the driver and leaving his friends traumatized.

“It wasn’t that difficult to make the video,” says junior Ben Taylor, “It only took us two days to make. I think the most effective piece of the video was the blurred vision that it perceived because it really shows how scary it can be to drive impaired.”

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni visited LHS on May 10 to award the sportsbroadcasting class and principal Lisa Nemeth the $10,000 check.

“We created this contest because young people can teach other young people better than adults can,” said Gulluni.