State Attorney General Gary King visited the City of Vision on Oct. 16, participating in a ceremony at Independence High School.

There, a handful of former — 2009 IHS graduates — and current students were honored for their efforts in last school year’s anti-DWI public service announcements.

King’s office teamed up with uPublic and DUDE (Don’t Use Drugs Ever) TV for the Underage Drinking Prevention Film Contest for students across the state to try to curb underage drinking. Independence High, a small high school with an enrollment of about 250, serves students who, for various reasons, face challenges in earning a diploma. In addition to providing the core curriculum, IHS career-based programs in health education (Certified Nurse Assistant) and film production, responsible for King’s visit.

“It’s part of my job to make New Mexico a safer place to live,” King said before helping to hand out the awards. To do that, he said, it’s important to “make good choices; make safe choices.

“It’s important that you all talk to your friends (about DWI),” King said. “If you’re not worried about yourself, worry about your friends.”

King said when he was growing up in Stanley, he didn’t make poor choices because any temptation was removed because, “All my friends thought I was a nerd.”

IHS film teacher Marla Peters showed three of her students’ videos to the gathering, which included some King’s staff members, Rio Rancho Public Schools Superintendent Sue Cleveland, and several members of the Rio Rancho Police Department.

After seeing “The Night of His Life,” which garnered honorable mention, Peters showed the second-place winner “DWI Rap,” which was produced by Michael Thompson and Ricky Mayberry and had RRPD officers Mark Gonzales and John Francis, who “pulled over” an obviously intoxicated Thompson, whom Peters was proud to note has had a bit part in the TV series “Crash,” which is filming in the area.

“There’s opportunity for you guys (in the film industry) in New Mexico,” she said, before introducing the first-place winning video winner and its “star,” IHS graduate Michele Cusack — who almost lost her life and any future after an evening of binge drinking on June 3, 2008.

Cusack narrated her 30-second winner, “Take Another Look: Think Before You Drink,” in which she outlines her binge-drinking episode, that preceded her falling out of a passenger window of a car doing about 70 mph. Her injuries included losing the tip of a finger and much of an ear, not to mention a long stint in the hospital for surgery and recovery.

Although Peters said she did some of the work on the videos, “These kids make it happen. Ninety-nine percent of the kids shoot and edit.”

But, Peters said, there were others to thank for playing a role in IHS’s success.

“I wanted to make sure that Sandoval County DWI and Prevention will be recognized for their continued support of our film program for the last three years,” she said. “They are the ones that provide the financial support to air all our commercials on the CW (Albuquerque TV station, channel 19) and during these crucial times of budget cuts they are the ones who step in and provide much-needed computers, software, DVDs and gift cards to the students.

“They have worked with us now for three years to help our film program succeed and without all the people at Sandoval County DWI and Prevention and namely Diane Irwin, who leads that department, we would not have enjoy all the accomplishments Independence High School has experienced,” Peters said. “It really has taken a commitment from everyone and a belief that we are improving the life of our young students and I could not have done it without them.”

And, Peters said, she wanted to thank Wal-Mart for supplying some of the software; she also thanked the two police officers who appeared in the second-place video. Before the brief session wrapped up, King was given a custom T-shirt and made an honorary member of the IHS film crew.

The students who worked on the videos received certificates and other goodies; Mayberry was given a new computer so he can work on IHS videos at home. J. Rick Metz of uPublic and DUDE TV came up with that prize, saying, “If you’re willing to work hard, there’s opportunity out there.”

Metz coordinated the whole project and “worked with the schools to put on the challenge and worked with the media to put on the spots.”