Operation Click — Success at Arrowhead High School

Operation Click is a program that Arrowhead High School and other schools (Kettle Moraine, Palmyra Eagle, and Watertown) participated in.

On www.operationclick.com they say that, “Operation Click is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that was started as a partnership between the Crystal Lake Police Department, Crystal Lake Park District, Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce, and High School District 155.

Since 1998, Operation Click has been urging high school age drivers to buckle their seat belts in order to save lives.

Since the program’s inception, seat belt usage by teen drivers in Crystal Lake has risen from 65% compliance to 95% compliance.

This program has been successful through the support of local business owners, services, clubs, and individuals that have donated prizes, and funds to purchase prizes, that are awarded to students ‘caught’ wearing their seat belts.

The program concludes at the end of each school year with a Grand Prize Giveaway. The original sponsoring dealership for this program was Crystal lake Buick/GMC, which donated a car every year since 1998. Incentives like these help encourage students to get into the habit of buckling up and driving safely.

Operation Click is now partnered with numerous car dealerships each providing a car as the grand prize. Each district has a different dealer that sponsors them.

To be eligible to win major prizes, students must adhere to a signed contract which states they will wear their seatbelts at all times, they will not drink and drive, they will not ride in a car with a driver who has consumed alcohol, and they will not be convicted of any traffic related violation. Students who breach the contract are not eligible for large prizes, including the grand prize car.”

At Arrowhead, Hattie Salzman took it upon herself to run this program through the Marketing department. She recruited fellow students to sign the Operation Click contract. The contract said that students would wear their seatbelts at all times when in the car.

At Arrowhead an email was sent out to students that stated, 96% of our student population wore their seatbelts. Then at the end of the time of the contracts, 20 students who signed the contracts were randomly selected.  Three  of those 20 made it as finalists. Salzman was one of the finalists. These three students were selected to participate in the Operation Click/AAA luncheon this past Friday and had  an opportunity to win a car for their participation and commitment in honoring the contract.  

On April 29th, 2016 at Olympia Resort students met up for a final luncheon and the car giveaway. Each one of the students at the luncheon got a car key from the local car dealership Safro. They all got an opportunity to get in the car and try and start it. If the car started while they were in it, they got to keep the car.

Salzman’s key started the car, and she now gets to keep the donated car.