Compelling Speaker Encourages Teens, Students to Make Smart Choices
DALLAS, March 25, 2010 – Poor choices can have drastic consequences, but if you learn from your mistakes, the end result can be positive – and Sarah Panzau is Living Proof. As a two-time member of the National Junior College Athletic Association women’s volleyball All-America team, Panzau knew what it was like to be on top of her game – and on top of the world. But not long after, she nearly lost it all.
Panzau will recount the pattern of poor choices that finally caught up with her to students and teens at 12 Texas schools and institutions. The two-week long tour kicks off on Monday, March 22 continuing through Thursday, April 1. The tour is sponsored by Anheuser-Busch Texas wholesalers Ben E. Keith (Dallas), Silver Eagle (Houston and San Antonio) and Brown Distributing (Austin), as part of the company’s commitment to fighting underage drinking and drunk driving.
Somewhere between life as a competitively driven high-school athlete and the early years of college, Panzau began heading down a destructive path. She found herself hanging out with the wrong crowd and getting more out of drugs and dangerous levels of alcohol than hitting the books and spiking a ball.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 23, 2003, Panzau’s car – and her life – spun out of control. With a blood-alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit, the 21-year-old decided to drive home drunk, missed a highway exit and rolled her car four times. Without a seat belt, she was ejected through the rear window of her car, her left arm was torn from her body and she was thrown onto the roadway.
The next thing Panzau remembers, she was in the hospital being told that she had lost her arm. She remained hospitalized for several months and endured more than 30 surgeries.
Panzau recognizes it was a series of poor choices that led up to that tragic night and hopes others will learn from her mistakes. She started speaking to students because, until the crash, she was in their shoes: invincible and with the world ahead of her.
“I am the victim of my own poor decisions to hang out with the wrong crowd, get involved with drugs and to drive drunk,” Panzau explains. “Today, I stand before students to impress upon them the importance of making the right choices – to not drink before they are 21, never drive drunk, respect parents, rise above disabilities and to learn the meaning of ‘real’ friends.”
During her presentation, Panzau encourages students to look out for each other and reminds them to seek help, if needed. She also touches on the difficulties she has encountered as a result of her disabling injury, including a lack of social acceptance. She relates that before the crash, she was the pretty, popular girl with whom everyone wanted to be friends. Now that she is technically considered disabled, people treat her differently. Panzau encourages students not to let physical disabilities bias their thinking and to show tolerance and acceptance of others.
“Sarah’s story, while gut-wrenching, is such a powerful example,” says Clara Ingram, Public Relations Manager at Ben E. Keith Beverages. “Her message truly resonates with the students because she’s young and was active and popular in school. When she tells them to make good decisions, to think before they act, to not drink when underage and never drive drunk…they really get it. That’s why we feel so strongly about helping Sarah spread her message.”
For nearly three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its nationwide network of 600 wholesalers have invested more than $750 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs such as Living Proof. Living Proof is part of a speakers bureau Anheuser-Busch sponsors to travel nationwide delivering messages of responsibility and respect for the law to students, parents, educators, community groups and military personnel. For more information on these efforts and the progress being made in alcohol responsibility, visit www.beeresponsible.com.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Monday, March 22
Noon Rice University
6100 Main Houston, Texas 77005
Tuesday, March 23
9 a.m. George I. Sanchez Charter School
6001 Gulf Freeway Houston, TX 77023
1:30 p.m. Kempner High School
14777 Voss Road Sugar Land, TX 77498
Wednesday, March 24
9 a.m. John F. Kennedy High School
1922 South General McMullen Drive, San Antonio, TX 78226
12:55 p.m. Alamo Heights High School
6900 Broadway Street, San Antonio, TX 78209
Thursday, March 25
1:30 p.m. Concordia University
11400 Concordia University Drive Austin, TX 78726
5 p.m. Texas State University
601 University Drive San Marcos, Texas 78666
Friday, March 26
10 a.m. Austin High School
1715 West Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78703
Tuesday, March 30
9 a.m., Noon, 2 p.m. Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center
2600 Lone Star Drive Dallas, Texas 75212
Thursday, April 1
9:45 a.m. Rains High School
1755 West U.S. Hwy 69 Emory, TX 75440
1:30 p.m. Tom Bean High School
7719 State Hwy 11 Tom Bean, TX 75489
7 p.m. Texas A&M University – Commerce
2600 West Neal Street Commerce, TX 75428
Editor’s Note: Panzau will be available for interviews before and after the Living Proof presentations. For more information or to schedule an interview, please call Clara Ingram at 214-267-6496, or visit http://www.beeresponsible.com/speakers-sarah-panzau.html.
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Media Contact: Claire Bloxom
claire@coopersmithagency.com, (214) 329-9191