Sterner speaks on drunk driving, personal tragedy
Published Oct. 7, 2009
The Wellness Resource Center hosted keynote speaker Mark Sterner at Jesse Hall on Tuesday, who spoke on drunk driving and his own personal tragedy.
Wellness Center Director Kim Dude said the presentation was one of many events the center is sponsoring for Alcohol Responsibility Month and asked Sterner to come to MU because of the power of his story.
“We heard him at a national conference, and he’s been on campus before,” Dude said. “The evaluations were so positive with how his message hits home.”
In front of a crowd largely made up of students, Sterner shared the story of how three of his friends died in an auto accident with Sterner behind the wheel, driving after he had been drinking.
Sterner was three months from becoming the first in his family to graduate from college when he and four of his friends went to Florida for spring break their senior year. On the last night of their vacation, Sterner and his friends began drinking at the hotel where they were staying then decided to go to a bar.
“We wanted a spring break like we saw on MTV and in the movies,” Sterner said.
Sterner and his friends had shots at the bar, before choosing to drive to another bar shortly after midnight.
The least drunk of his five friends, Sterner was appointed to be the driver. Less than two miles from their destination, the car Sterner was driving skidded off the road and rolled several times.
Three of Sterner’s friends died, one received minor injuries and Sterner, who later spent time in prison for three felony counts of manslaughter, was critically injured.
Sterner said he continually thinks about the incident.
“They say time heals all wounds,” Sterner said. “But if you’ve ever lost someone close to you, you know that’s not true. Prison is over, but what’s in my head, what’s in my heart is going to be with me everyday.”
Members of sororities and fraternities involved in Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol were among the attendees. Freshman Ryan Lionberger attended the event with his pledge brothers and said the presentation was more than he expected.
“It definitely makes people wake up,” Lionberger said. “At first you might have thought that he was just another good guy who was going to preach to us, then he held his hand up and told us he killed three of his friends.”
Lionberger said Sterner’s story iterates the dangers of drunk driving.
“If you drink and drive with friends, you can become a statistic so fast,” Lionberger said.
Freshman Megan Betcher, who attended the program with her sorority, said the presentation reminded students of the importance of having a designated driver.
“It was kind of overwhelming,” Betcher said. “College students are going to drink, but it’s important for people to remember to have designated drivers.”
Dude said she hopes students are able to learn from Sterner’s story.
“He sends a very important message,” Dude said. “I hope they realize how nobody is invincible. If you drink and drive, bad things can happen.”
Sterner said he doesn’t share his story for glory but rather to help people.
“I don’t do this for sympathy and I’m not asking for forgiveness,” Sterner said. “I relive the worst night of my life so no one has to live with what I live with.”