Former cheerleader to bring anti-drunk driving message to campus

Kelly Craig started her IU career on a positive note. She was a cheerleader for the Hoosiers, and during her freshman year she pledged the Chi Omega sorority. \nBut in the summer of 1999, she was paralyzed from the neck down when a drunken driver hit the car she was driving in with her brother and then-boyfriend Luke Recker. Craig is no longer an IU student, pursuing her education closer to her family.\nNow Craig will bring her message of hope back to the IU community in a lecture at 7 p.m. Sunday in the IU Auditorium. Craig has spoken at many other universities, including Purdue.\nCraig's speech is sponsored by Chi Omega, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Inter-fraternity Council, Panhellenic Association and Union Board.\nSenior Ben Schmidt, IFC president, said the timing was ideal for a drunken driving lecture.\n"With Little 500 coming up, the entire campus, not just the greek system, can benefit from this," Schmidt said. "This is a pertinent topic at this point in time.\n"We want people to really consider their actions of the next few weeks and the consequences they can have on other people."\nSchmidt said the idea was brought to him by senior Scott Flannagan, IFC's vice president of risk management. Flannagan knew Craig, and suggested she speak to her former classmates.\nSophomore Nick Hillman, Union Board director of lectures, said his organization has been working on Craig's presentation for more than three months. \nHillman and Schmidt said that since Craig has so many friends on the Bloomington campus, her message will have a greater impact.\n"She will have the chance to touch the lives of people she used to go to school with," Schmidt said. \nHillman said he agreed.\n"She still has a lot of peers here," he said, "and they would all be interested in seeing her while she is still in school."\nSchmidt said that he hopes people take away some serious messages from Craig's speech, but also that they realize she talks about courage and hope in the face of adversity.\n"We just want people to consider their actions and the consequences of their actions, to learn from other people's mistakes," he said. "It's a reality. It can happen to you."\nHillman said it's an event for the entire campus. \n"I would love people to go away with the message to know how serious drunk driving is," Hillman said. "In the blink of an eye everything can change. Next time that they're out partying, it could happen to them just as easily"