It began almost like any other day.

But just after noon, as the Glenville-Emmons High School students came pouring out of the back of the school building, they saw that something was terribly wrong.

Two cars, each with four students inside, had crashed head-on into each other in the field behind the school.

One student, Jessi Nelson, had flown through the windshield and was lying on the hood of one of the cars.

“We came out there and they were already crashed,” said student Heather Davies, whose sister was one of the students involved with the crash. “They were screaming.”

The students in the cars were in prom wear, dressed as if they were driving to or from the dance, when the incident happened. The driver of one of the automobiles had been drinking.

Glenville First Responders quickly arrived at the scene, followed by members of the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota State Patrol and the Albert Lea Medical Center. Later, a Mayo One helicopter landed and flew one teenager away.

It was as if it were a real car crash.

In reality, it was a mock crash set up to encourage students not to drink and drive.

Glenville-Emmons Superintendent Mark Roubinek said the school district had been working with emergency responders for probably two or three months to plan the mock crash. It was scheduled the week before the school’s prom.

“I think the simulation of the car crash is a good way to give them a better visual of what happens, some of the things that can occur when you make some very simple decisions — how it can impact your life,” Roubinek said after the event. “I think something like this gives young people the chance to look at an area where they don’t have that experience.”

He said he hoped the mock crash would help the students think through the decision-making process involved with choosing whether to drink alcohol or to buckle seat belts.

Glenville First Responders used the Jaws of Life hydraulic rescue tool to extract several of the students from the automobiles. The students had a blood-looking substance on their bodies to simulate injuries.

The students in one automobile did not appear to have their seat belts on, while the students in the other car did.

Emergency personnel placed many of the students in neckbraces, and at one point, the supposed-drunken driver could be seen given a sobriety test.

While of the emergency personnel were busy extracting students from the automobiles, one emergency responder placed a white sheet over Nelson, who had “died” from injuries sustained in the crash. Two representatives from a funeral home arrived and took her body away in a body bag on a stretcher.

In the end, the drunken driver was arrested and taken away by a Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office deputy. A trooper marked spray paint near where the cars were at during the time of the collision.

After the scene had resolved outside, the students walked back inside to the gym, where they saw a memorial slideshow of Nelson and listened as the teenager’s mother read her obituary. A casket with flowers on the top was placed at the front of the room.

Support staff from the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team and Freeborn County Public Health were also on hand as the students had the opportunity to reflect on the consequences of the wrong choice and how it affects friends, family, school and the community.

“It was hard because one of them was my sister,” Davies said.

She said she learned the importance of making safe decisions and how fast a crash can occur.

For most students, it was their first time to see what looked like a major car crash — and all the painful ramifications that come with one.

The student actors in the mock crash were in 11th and 12th grade.

Emergency personnel acted in a manner as if it were a real crash to allow students to see how they would have responded if it were to have happened in real life.

Roubinek said the mock crash was videotaped so students can learn from it in future driver’s education classes.