In memory of a 13-year-old girl killed in a car crash, Arlington elementary students are marching with signs asking drivers and passengers to wear seat belts.
Kelsee Williams, a junior high student, died in October when the sport utility vehicle she was in overturned. She and the three other teenagers in the vehicle were not wearing seat belts.
Students at Short Elementary School, where Williams was once student council president, are campaigning this school year for seat belt use. They are walking in front of their school with the posters in the morning and afternoon, and student council members are selling wristbands to raise money for signs.
The students, who made posters telling drivers to buckle up and looked at old photos of Williams, said they can't believe she is gone.
"They're making a difference," said Dawn Zdrojewski, the student council sponsor. "They're taking something tragic and trying to make something good come out of it."
In 2008, the National Highway Safety Administration reported that about 82 percent of drivers wear seat belts, up 1 percent from the previous year.
But the students say they want that number to rise to 100 percent.
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"It feels that we're helping out the community, and especially little kids who don't really know, just helping them to know to wear their seat belt," student Lilia Frausto said.
