The evening began like a typical night for a suburban high-school senior, Brandon Silveria, then 17, celebrated with several of his athlete friends by drinking a couple of beers at a party.
Afterward, as he dropped off his friends at their homes, the last friend asked him if he could drive home safely. Brandon felt sure that he could.
But as Brandon was driving to his home alone, still drunk, he hit a tree, totaling his car and his body. The accident put him into a coma for almost three months and permanently damaged his speech and walking abilities. Even now, he must take medications four times a day to prevent seizures.
"You have to understand that peer pressure forced me to make the wrong choices," said Brandon to Fairfax High School students, of his decision to drink and drive 13 years ago. "I hope to God that none of you will ever have to go through what I've been through."
Brandon Silveria urged the crowd of mostly juniors and seniors to make wise choices and not yield under peer pressure. He appeared at the Jan. 12 assembly with his father Tony Silveria, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th), and representatives with The Century Council, the organization sponsoring Silveria's talk.
Both Brandon and Tony Silveria have been touring the United States for years and have warned more than one million students about the dangers of drunken driving.
"Before you leave, take one last look at me and ask yourself, is it worth a couple of beers?" said Brandon Silveria.
With slurred, monotone speech, Brandon Silveria explained how he had everything a high-school senior could want as he was growing up in California: college admittance, a car, a girlfriend.
"I had the world at my fingertips. ... It all changed because of all the choices I made," Brandon Silveria said.
But when he drove home drunk one evening and had an accident, he suffered such severe head trauma that when he finally awoke, he had to re-learn how to walk and talk, and even how to eat.
"That choice took away from him a dream he worked hard for," said Tony Silveria, referring to the rowing scholarships for which Brandon and his friends were competing.
Tony Silveria further explained that in addition to the high medical bills — Brandon's bills were approximately $2 million — such accidents strain families to the point that some families break.
"Seven out of 10 families come apart in trials like these," Tony Silveria said. "You and your family could never be a family again."
BRANDON SILVERIA'S recovery took several years. For the next five years, he underwent rehabilitation. Then he had a massive seizure, which took him another four years to recover to his present state. The car crash permanently damaged his speech and walking abilities.
"I hurt so much. I wanted to be normal," said Brandon Silveria.
Since his recovery, Brandon Silveria has been talking with students nationwide about drunken driving. He presented his story to attendees of Boys State this past summer, which is how Fairfax senior Turner Rose discovered him and asked him to speak at Fairfax High School.
"I thought he brought a really good message on what to do, and how to be smart about it," said Turner, who is also student government treasurer at Fairfax.
Fellow student government representative Alex Lee, a sophomore from Fairfax, agreed. Like Turner, she has occasionally heard about drinking that goes on among students.
In 2002, 69 youths under 21 died in alcohol-related traffic deaths in Virginia, according to Davis.
"You hear enough of this stuff happening at school, but you don't hear the negative results," Lee said.