Being involved in CPHS’s active community encompasses many traditions. Along with Friday night football games, pep rallies and many more customs that make CPHS what it is today, one of the most prominent tradition is Shattered Dreams, which marks your transition from underclassmen to upperclassmen.

This year many people are hard at work to make this year’s Shattered Dreams the best that it can be, according including senior Brianna Ray, who is this year’s director for Shattered Dreams.

“This year for Shattered Dreams, I can’t say too much, but there’s going to be a few surprises along the way,” Ray said. “I think it’s going to be the best Shattered Dreams year ever.”

According to Ray, production usually lasts about five to six months. Three of those months are dedicated to solid planning, which includes developing the story and writing the physical script that is put in the hands of the actors. Once March comes around, the accident is filmed, along with what happens to the actors the day after.

“I hope I never have to go through that (drunk driving accident),” Ray said. “I have seen pictures and have heard stories about the devastating affects it can have on people.”

Ray is not the only person who feels this way, as senior Monica Harkins also talks about how emotionally draining it is to write about friends dying in car crashing because of drunk driving.

“It’s weird to write about people dying,” she said. “Even more so because these are your friends, the people that you have grown up with and share so many memories with. I am so lucky that nothing like this has happened to me and hope I never have to experience it.”

The writing process is emotionally draining and is the longest part of production, according to senior Quynh Nguyen, who is also head script writer and assistant director. Shattered Dreams has four parts: the first movie, the accident scene, the second movie and the funeral.

“Our process consists of a lost of people sitting in a circle in front of a computer deciding what is a logical step for the characters, and the story to take,” Nguyen said. “I don’t want to reveal anything, but we’ve got a really great group this year with a good dynamic. Our writing team is devoted and passionate and we’re writing a story that hopefully a lot of people will love.”

Shattered Dreams is more than a movie to Nguyen, who express how much of an impact Shattered Dreams can actually make.

“Shattered Dreams is a lot of things to me,” she said. “I worked on my first Shattered Dreams when I was a sophomore, and I’m a senior. It allowed me to grow as an individual, and it also showed me how fun filmmaking (a career I had considered previously as an actor) could be. It was my movement from independent film action to independent film making. Last year I was in a car collison that nearly took my life, and I wasn’t even inebriated. After that, I realized that the message that nobody should be behind the wheel while under the influence. I wanted to be able to tell everyone that it’s one of the worst things to do, and Shattered Dreams was the perfect way to reach the masses.”

Shattered Dreams will take place two days before spring break with all juniors and seniors being invited to watch.

“There is something about seeing your peers and even friends being injured or killed by poor decision-making,” Nguyen said. “Two years ago, everyone was laughing at the first movie because it was hard to believe that the characters were dating, or that they would say a certain line. But during the second movie, everyone was silent. There was not a single person that ridiculed what was happening-because it looked so real. One of the characters passed away in the hospital and her mother came in, and at that point many of the people in the audience began to cry. People began to realize what would happen if they were in the same position. That moment was possibly the greatest of the 2013.”