Each year, our team is proud to award the $2,500 Montesi scholarship to a local undergraduate student. For the application process, the firm asks students to submit an essay of no more than 500 words about how texting and driving has affected their lives.
The 2020 winner was rising Henderson State freshman Keyunna Green. In her essay, Keyunna reflected on the night she hit a deer while texting her boyfriend from behind the wheel.
“As a teenager, some think they’re too good of a driver to make mistakes, but this isn’t true,” she stated near the beginning of her story. Despite her initial fear as a new driver, Keyunna soon became comfortable behind the wheel and developed a bad texting habit like so many Americans do. One night, she was looking at her phone when she hit a deer. She recounts how she “could have run into a ditch by the way [her] car jerked, but by the grace of God, [she] didn’t.” Since this night, she has not texted while driving once.
Though she was luckily able to walk away from the accident with no injuries, many aren’t so lucky. We thank Keyunna for sharing her story and hope her words will convince others to think twice before they reach for their phones.
Congratulations, Keyunna, and good luck at Henderson State!