Grace Traina, 18, of Covington, LA, is the recipient of the Bressman Law Safe Roads Policy Scholarship. Grace recently graduated from Mandeville High School and will attend the prestigious New York University Stern School of Business Undergraduate College this fall.
Scholarship entrants were instructed to write a policy memo about a specific and actionable way to improve road and traffic safety to a policy maker of their choice. Grace chose to address a stretch of Interstate 12 (I-12), a truck-dominated road that runs through the southern part of Covington.
Grace’s Scholarship Entry Discussed the Dangerous Interstate in Her Hometown
Grace was deliberate and specific in her memo. For example: “The expanse of I-12 around Covington is driven by more than 76,000 vehicles per day. The interstate serves as both the essential daily transit route of local Covington citizens and the hauling route for thousands of 18-wheelers traveling across the state.”
The two groups of drivers often clash and in 2018 multiple people were killed and several more were injured when an 18-wheeler truck failed to stop at a traffic slowdown.
Grace is intimately aware of the I-12 problems because it’s the road she took twice a day, at least five days a week to her high school in nearby Mandeville.
She addressed her memo to then St. Tammany Parish president, Pat Brister. Grace studied the policies of Ms. Brister, who passed away since the memo was written.
“We often debated her policies in my high school government classes,” Grace said.
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An Active Student and Community Member
Grace is the daughter of Jennifer and Richard Traina of Covington. Like many of our applicants, she has a very rich resume. Grace was her high school class secretary, Key Club treasurer, Mu Alpha Theta secretary, National Honor Society member, and in the student council. She also was co-president and treasurer for Helping Hands which raised funds for underprivileged students and local food banks. She was a summer intern for the Louisiana Bar Association.
She is also an artist who has spearheaded many projects on her school campus, including one to paint murals on some of the more run-down school buildings.
Grace is passionate about road safety policies; she and her friends are taking short road trips this summer through her state’s rural roads, many of which are not maintained by their local governments.
About Bressman Law
For more than 25 years, Bressman Law has been helping people who have been injured in crashes that could have been prevented by more careful road policies. We started our $2,500 Safe Roads Scholarship to inspire young people to think about road safety policy and their own safe driving practices. Learn more by calling us at (614) 538-1116.
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