NATCHEZ — A group of 25 Natchez High School students lifted the curtain Thursday on a shocking statistic regarding the amount of teenage deaths in car wrecks linked to drinking and driving.

The members of Health Occupations Students of America — a nationwide group for high school students taking health care classes — have been distributing material around campus for weeks that simply said “60 percent” on them.

From posters stuck on classroom doors to the school’s marquee, the percentage was a reference to a prom safety campaign the students chose to do in partnership with the Substance Free Coalition of Adams County.

HOSA president Natori Marshall said the students kept the meaning behind the percentage a secret until Thursday morning, when she announced the message over the school’s intercom.

“The statistic was that 60 percent of teenage deaths in car-related accidents are due to alcohol and drinking and driving,” Marshall said. “With prom coming up, we thought it would be a good campaign for our school and hopefully help everyone make the right decisions on prom night.”

Natchez High School’s prom is Saturday, and HOSA vice president Alana Singleton said she hopes the campaign would make the students aware of how serious drinking and driving can be.

“Once people heard what the 60 percent was about, I think they started to realize this is serious stuff,” Singleton said. “Everyone kept asking us what it meant this whole time, but we didn’t tell them so that way it would all build up to the (Thursday) announcement.”

Audrey Curry teaches the health science classes at the Fallin Career and Tech Center, which is on the NHS campus, and is the HOSA faculty member for the school.

Curry said she thought the project was a great way to bring attention to the serious issue of underage drinking during prom.

“The message here was we don’t want anybody to be a part of that statistic,” she said. “So we wanted to find a way to heighten the awareness regarding prom safety and take a stand against underage drinking and drinking and driving.”

The students also passed out cards to their peers — all while wearing shirts that said 60 percent on them — with clever sayings or messages written on them, including “Drive safe so you won’t blow a gasket and end up in a casket!”

The students also sold sports drinks with a piece of paper that said 60 percent taped on them. The proceeds go to help pay for HOSA events, Curry said.

“It was cute to watch them take this idea and go with it, and hopefully we’ve gotten the message out there enough to heighten the awareness of this issue,” Curry said. “Hopefully, we planted the seed.”