On Wednesday, November 20^th, the AHS student body attended an assembly where Keith Becker, brother of Todd Becker, spoke about the death of Todd and all of the horrible decisions that took place leading to his death in a devastating car crash which tragically event took place in Kearney, Nebraska in 2005.

Todd was in his final year of high school, was a great athlete, and was only 18 years old when he died. He was on the football team, and did track as well. The bad choices that Todd made ended his life and also affected a mast majority of people, as there were 1,000 people that attended his funeral. Todd had some senior pictures that were taken, and instead of showing off his senior picture at graduation or handing them to his friends throughout the hallway, his senior picture stood by his casket as thousands of people mourned over him.

It all started at a party that Todd attended. At first he didn’t want to party, drink, or do anything of the sort. He was only in his sophomore year when he went to his very first party.  He told his friends that he didn’t want to drink but just enjoy the company of everyone. He arrived at the party, saw people drinking, and then he convinced himself that one time would not hurt anything or anyone. One step closer.

Todd’s junior year began, and it was just another year of the bad choices that he had made. There was this girl that he had dated for 2 years, and she was gorgeous. They were very devoted to each other and they even made a pledge to save their virginity for their wedding night. But one night, he convinced her to have sex with him, and she wasn’t really willing to, but they had a few drinks, and they got really drunk, and down in the basement room at one of the parties they went to, he took her virginity.  One step closer.

Senior year then came around, and he really started to party and make even worse decisions. He also broke up with that gorgeous woman he was with for 2 years. The girl who pledged to save her virginity for marriage, ended in heartbreak and tragedy. Todd also started to have sex with more girls, and alcohol was becoming more and more of an addiction. One step closer.

February 6^th, 2005, the night that Todd Becker had lost his life, a devastating car crash, killed him on impact. Two of his friends in the car that ran away from the scene, since they didn’t want to get in trouble again. They got a ways down the road before realizing that Todd wasn’t running with them. They both looked at each other and then dashed back to the car. It was a horrific scene.

The whole top of the car was concaved. The whole back area was shredded and pretty much dismantled. Todd’s helpless body laid there like a ragdoll and the two friends soon realized that it was over. Todd is dead. They cried in awe as one of them made a very panicking phone call to 911.  Police soon arrived and an ambulance carried away Todd’s body, as the two friends hated themselves for what they had done. They should have never gotten in that car, with all of them being as drunk as they were, and try to drive a friend home. Todd was a great guy, besides all the partying and the wrong choices that he made.  He was still young, and most people who go through high school will be offered all of these choices, like to drink and party, or to go steal from a store and do drugs. It is a phase a lot of people go through, but it is your decision to make those choices.

Keith Becker presented this story to the AHS student body in hope, that maybe, at least some of the students would heed his warnings. He wanted to encourage them to take the “narrow road”, and choose the path of resisting.