More than one-third of youth under 21 killed in alcohol-related car crashes in 2001 died during the months of April, May and June, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.

If that statistic doesn't sober up party-bound graduates as prom season approaches, perhaps Kenny Martinez's story will.

He started drinking as a teen growing up in his native Las Vegas, N.M. Moving to Santa Fe just meant hanging out with a different partying crowd. The beer cans piled up. He said he drove drunk every day, totaling three of his vehicles and, thankfully, never hurting anyone else. One DWI led to another and then a third, and then a fourth, which meant prison time. He did his time, got out, and went drinking with a friend, who drove his truck off the road and down a cliff near the Santa Fe ski basin. The friend died in Martinez's arms.

Martinez has been sober over five years now, and credited a sympathetic judge, Alcoholics Anonymous and the faith of friends and co-workers for his recovery. He told his story to a gymnasium full of attentive juniors last Thursday morning. The presentation was part of a Student Wellness Action Team (SWAT) program that students are taking to schools through this week in an effort to send a strong substance-use prevention message to peers.

Though Martinez hasn't been a teenager in some time, SWAT member Taylor Velazquez, a Capital High School junior, said teens are more apt to listen to other teens regarding the need to make positive choices. "I feel like I have a louder voice [as a member of SWAT] now," he said. "I'm part of something big, telling people my age, 'You have to be smart about your choices. Otherwise you'll end up in hell -- by which I mean jail.' " Velazquez introduced Martinez at the Capital event Thursday morning.

SWAT director Phil Lucero said this is the fifth year that SWAT students have presented substance-abuse programs to other schools, although the last four years focused on tobacco. The SWAT kids are taking PowerPoint presentations into the middle schools, and engaging high-schoolers with guest speakers, including Martinez (serving as a representative from Impact DWI, a prevention, enforcement and treatment organization), and a break-dancing performance by 3HC B Boy Crew, whose members urged the Capital students to follow positive role models.

There are more than 150 students representing nine schools in the SWAT program, Lucero said. They engage in public-service activities throughout the year in an effort to advocate for making healthy decisions when it comes to alcohol, drugs, bullying and suicide prevention -- "big, somber topics," Lucero said, noting that student surveys indicate that teens are more likely to positively respond to personal testimony when it comes to such issues.

With prom right around the corner, it's doubly important for teens, parents and educators to do what they can to ensure kids stay safe.