Yellowknife (Nov 24/04) - The image of a 17-year-old boy holding tightly to the reins of a crazed runaway horse while wearing his mother's red cowboy boots will likely linger in the minds of many of Yellowknife's students for a while.

While their classmates were in stitches, too, Kathleen Sullivan and Kelsey Wickes, on far left, almost fell out of their chairs laughing as Shayne Stoll used humour to get his anti-drinking and driving message across to Ecole St. Joseph students. - Lisa Scott/NNSL photo

So too will the image of that same boy, lying brain-dead in a Regina hospital less than a year later after he and his buddies chose to drive drunk and ended up in a ditch.

That boy was Shayne Stoll's best friend in Lamberg, Sask., and the accident happened 12 years ago. Stoll has been travelling Canada ever since, trying to prevent the same thing happening to other teens.

His hour-long speeches focus on the hilarity of the antics of a group of prairie boys growing up, keep students in stitches.

When he has them hooked, he turns serious, launching into another, albeit not funny story of the Sunday his friend "Wormser" was thrown from a truck driven by his drunk friend. "I know it's having an impact. It opens them up emotionally," he said after performing at Ecole St. Joseph students, Nov. 19.

Talking to students after the talk, it was obvious that his message got through to them.

"He knows how we feel. He's experienced what we do," said Julaine Debogorski, a Grade 8 student. "It was awesome. He was really funny and a big inspiration."

Teacher Michelle Thoms and the St. Patrick high school Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD) brought Stoll to the city to reach students like Debogorski.

After six speeches at city schools from Nov. 16-19, it worked well, said Thoms.

"There have been people who have told me they've never seen their kids sit so transfixed," she said after the last assembly of the week.

"With kids, a lecture doesn't always work."

The side-splitting stories and funny gestures Stoll incorporated into his experiences are offering the breakthrough SADD wanted to observe National Addictions Awareness Week.