By Adam Studzinski

NORMAL – Normal Community High School and Normal West High School were two of just 22 schools in the nation to be awarded $100,000 grants through State Farm’s annual Celebrate My Drive campaign.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said NCHS Associate Principal Nikki Maurer. “I mean, especially right now with all of the budgetary constraints that we have in the state, and the country really, especially with education, it’s huge to have this amount of money that we can (use) do some great things in our school to help our kids.”

22 percent of the grant must go towards promoting safe driving in the schools. The rest can be used however the schools see fit.

“We’re hoping, we have to work out some of the kinks, we’re hoping to re-open our ASC, which is our Academic Support Center during the day,” Maurer said.

Maurer said the ASC offers students a place to find help on their school work during study hall and lunch.

This year’s Celebrate My Drive campaign asked schools raise awareness for the Drive 2N2 initiative, meaning two eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel.

“The students at our school created the mobile app Iron Drive. It’s to limit distracted driving,” said Maurer. “And then they created a video around the app.”

Normal West students proposed a program addressing texting while driving and impaired driving, featuring a yearlong focus including speakers, signage, social media, and more.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].