Woodsville, NH – A three-day project produced last week by many dedicated people from around the area ended up as a life-like experience with a death-like result located adjacent to the Woodsville High School parking lot.
With superb play-acting right from the early morning opening scene, wailing sirens from responding emergency vehicles to an indescribably wild scene of two mangled vehicles, an assortment of emergency vehicles, medical personnel, and rescue responders poured onto the tarmac of Woodsville High School parking lot to go to work and hopefully save a life and reduce suffering of other souls involved in the madness of a seriously bad mock motor vehicle crash. The entire scenario was planned, set up, and executed with the same seriousness as a real crash.
In the mayhem playing out before more than 200 people, who included students, staff, parents, and members of the public, watched and commented on the work being done close to the observers' view. The action going on was described over the school's sound system by long-time medical responder and Emergency Medical Technician Richard Guy.
I can't count on both hands and feet times two the number of years EMT Guy has been at the scene of the Woodsville High School mock crash scenes from the past, but I know my first experience with this type of program was in the early 1980's, and he was there at the locus of the accident set-up for that school project at the old Butson's Supermarket parking lot.
That means that Mr. Guy and others of the Woodsville Fire Department and medical team have been doing this for a long time and have lots of experience with both the actual, fatal crash scenes and the fake crash scenes, like this one, as well.
Injured passengers in varying degrees of moulage (mock accident injury applications) in each crash vehicle were high school students who included Trent Alling, who was deceased as a result of his injuries, along with others who were injured, including Grace McLellan, Katie Houston, and Makayla Walker.
In the second involved vehicle, students suffering immensely realistic moulage injuries included Taylor McFarland, Maddie Monterosso, Jill Roy, and Eyrleigh Hambrick.
Woodsville Fire and Medical units arrived on scene at 8:30 sharp on the first day of the three-day program. The injured were cut loose from the wreckage and transported to Cottage Hospital by ambulance. The deceased student driver was transported from the scene in a Ricker Funeral Home hearse. Ensuring that proper legal requirements were intact, the Medical Examiner, in a role played by Haverhill Recreation Director Sherri Sargent, was on the scene.
Also, on scene for the one-hour action staging was Grafton County Attorney Martha Ann (Marcie) Hornick. She was on board later in production as the prosecutor who led the proceedings against the impaired vehicle operator that the deceased student was in.
With the shrouded body of the Alling student lying in plain view of the 200 observing students, the scene was solemn and remained so until the hearse had cleared the parking lot. But the sadness of that incident would be returned for Part Two, as creators at the school had also scheduled a full funeral for the deceased student at the Dr. John A. Bagonzi Community Building that was held the next day with flowers, music and testimonials, including an officiant Melissa Gould, pall bearers, and a visiting speaker, Derek Curtis of Groton, who had lost a child, Blue Mountain Union High School student "TC" Curtis, as a result of injuries suffered in an auto crash in 2018.
The Community and State partners who are assisting with the Mock Crash include: Haverhill Police Department, Grafton County Sheriff Department, Grafton County Attorney's Office, Ricker Funeral Home, Woodsville Cottage Hospital, Woodsville Emergency Medical Services, Woodsville Fire Department, AAA Northern New England, NH Liquor Commission, NH Department of Transportation Driving Toward Zero, NH Department of Highway Safety, Woodsville High School Band, Haverhill Recreation Department, JTB Towing and Recovery, Hatchland Farm, Copies and More, Private Citizens and WHS Students.
Day Two of the program opened inside the Dr. John A. Bagonzi Community Building, where the high school classes once again assembled to observe and some to participate in the funeral of the student killed in the mock fatal crash that played out before the students who gathered at the school's parking lot early the previous day.
Student and faculty pallbearers included Principal Hayden Coon, Teachers Robert Scianna and Glen Page, also Assistant Principal Matt Kelly, and students Maddox Furyes and Grace McLellan.
The casket, memorial photos, flowers, and signs were placed around the gym as seniors and staff made their entrance and took their seats in designated areas. An intermittent slideshow was held to commemorate the life of deceased student Trent Alling, with appropriate background music provided by Music Director Wright.
Opening the service was Derek Curtis, father of BMU student TC Curtis, who was killed in a vehicle crash in 2018. The students listened intently to his words as a father who had experienced the death of a child.
Student speakers were Grace McLellan, Josie Drake, and Mila Townsand.
Vocalist Mila Townsend sang Amazing Grace, as the vista of flowers and students marked the realistic setting of a memorial service for a student loved by friends and classmates, his short life snuffed out the previous day in a motor vehicle crash. Melissa Gould was an officiant throughout the program, something she does professionally with great feeling and love.
The service was closed with a reading and a poem recitation by Melissa. Pallbearers assembled once again to carry the casket out of the Community Building, and students returned to the Roundhouse with their teachers.
Teachers then facilitated discussions on the mock funeral they had just witnessed.
Day Three of the three-day event began at noon on Friday, May 1, 2026, and included a mock court trial, featuring Grafton County Attorney Marcie Hornick, Defense Attorney Amanda Jacobson, a Lead Assistant County Attorney, and Judge Tara Heater, a Deputy County Attorney.
During the court proceedings, students observed and heard the arraignment and bail hearing for the defendant charged in the staged mock crash scene. Also, they witnessed the trial proceedings, including witness testimony, evidence presentation, closing arguments, and the defendant's sentencing.
An important part of the program included the day's activities on the final day, Friday, May 1, 2026. It included large-group sessions on safe driving, reducing impaired and distracted driving crashes, a lunch period, and the mock trial from noon to 1:30 PM.
Assembled in the parking lot for student visits and discussions were AAA Northern New Hampshire and programs that included distracted-driving glasses, impaired-vision goggles, and a program by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission that included a golf-cart operation activity and impairment glasses.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation cargo trailer was set up alongside other outdoor stations for student access during student rotations. The program ended at 3 PM.

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