**This is the story The Wolfpack would have run had the Shattered Dreams mock accident been a real event. Remember to make good decisions and be safe during this spring break**    

Prom night is generally considered a rite of passage for many high school students. Dressing up, going to dinner and dancing all night with friends before parting ways is a thought that brings feelings of warmth and nostalgia. However, the dangers associated with prom are equally notorious, and a single lapse of judgment can cost the lives of many. Anelise Hancock, junior, and Jordan Fogle, senior, were victims of a fatal car accident March 10.

     The accident occurred on Cypress Creek Road after the Cedar Park High School prom at the Renaissance Hotel. Fogle and Hancock were with three friends at the time of the accident, on their way to meet up with other prom attendees. The driver of the vehicle was intoxicated, and collided with a nearby streetlight.

     “It was just a mistake,” Tristan Brannan, senior, said. “It started out harmlessly, just your usual prom night. No one expected anything like it. I still don’t believe it.”

     After the collision, Fogle was airlifted to the hospital, but did not survive his serious  injuries. Hancock was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the vehicle was charged with driving while intoxicated along with two counts of vehicular manslaughter, and was arrested by Cedar Park Police Officer Kevin Freed on site.

      “The consequences of driving while intoxicated, especially when someone is so young, are deadly,” Freed said. “This was just a heartbreaking example of the dangers involved when students begin to cross the line.”

     The funeral, held March11, was attended by many Cedar Park High School students and faculty members alongside the family and other friends of the deceased. Beau Smith, senior and long-term boyfriend of Hancock, made a brief but heart-wrenching speech on her behalf and, in a chilling turn of events, revealed the engagement ring he had planned to propose to her with on prom night; this was met with shock and grief for all attendees.

      “It was really sad to see Beau put the engagement ring on Anelise’s coffin,” Becca Sims, junior, said. “They could have been so happy together if that one night had never happened. They had so much ahead of them.”

     Fogle was remembered by Joe Krupa, senior. Krupa was a close friend of Fogle’s and had become close to his family as well. In a solemn farewell to his longtime friend, Krupa delivered a eulogy that brought the congregation to tears.

     “Jordan was always making the people around him smile,” Victoria Steele, senior, said. “I can’t imagine Cedar Park without the warmth and humor t   hat he brought to everyone he came into contact with.”

     The catastrophe was not only regrettable and full of sorrow, but it is also one that could have been prevented. While the memories of Fogle and Hancock will remain with Cedar Park students forever, the incident should serve to remind teenagers of the very real consequences of drinking and driving.