About the Board:
U in the Driver Seat (UDS) is a peer-to-peer safety program for college students. The goal of UDS is to raise awareness of driving impaired and prevent crashes involving college students. The program provides resources, information, and materials to empower young adults to spread the word among their friends and peers about the deadly act of driving impaired and encourage them to make smart choices and stay safe. UDS can only succeed with the involvement and commitment of college students, who are represented by the U in the Driver Seat Collegiate Advisory Board (CAB).
2022 – 2023 Collegiate Advisory Board (CAB) members
Catherine Badillo
University of Houston
American Sign Language Interpreting
Cat has been involved with the United Way Youth Leadership Cabinet. She was elected as Co-Chair her junior and senior years of high school. Cat has been a member of the CAB for two years now.
Her main goal this year is to help the UDS program become more accessible and reach different audiences through better accessibility.
Karla Garcia
University of Texas at Austin
International Relations and Global Studies
Karla is a freshman. In high school she was part of the Student Class officers as the Parliamentarian, President of Spanish Club, and a member of the student council. As President of Spanish Club I organized the Hispanic Heritage Month and Cinco de Mayo celebrations.
In the past, Karla has attended the UDS Symposium as support staff. She looks forward to being a part of UDS and helping engage youth participation through more relevant means of media.
Esmeralda Gutierrez
Texas A&M Kingsville
Finance
Esmeralda is senior. She currently serves as President of the peer educator program, PEP Talk and serves as the Student Senator for the College of Business at A&M Kingsville. Esmeralda works as the Wellness Specialist for the Student Health & Wellness department and this will be her fourth year serving on the Collegiate Advisory Board (CAB).
One of her goals this year is to train and develop the next generation of peer educators as they go out and educate the student body and bring awareness to impaired and distracted driving.
Randy Harper
South Plains College
Allied Health
Randy is currently a freshman and part of South Plains College Honor Guard. He was also a member of the Lubbock Police Department Explorer Post, which gave knowledge and insight into becoming a police officer.
Randy has personally lost friends to impaired and distracted driving. His goals are to bring awareness to my fellow students about the dangers of driving under the influence, and connect how students perceive what is considered cool, versus what is legal, and how he can help further prevent unnecessary crashes.
Kasey Nguyen
University of Texas Dallas
Biology
Kasey is a senior. She currently works as a Peer Health Educator in the Student Wellness Center. She’s responsible for providing health education programming to her peers.
Her goal is to implement UDS materials into our university’s presentations that we give to our student body. She would like to host a large-scale event at the Student Union to increase student awareness and education about keeping ourselves safe on our roads.
Lucas Ransen
Northeast Community College
Pre-Professional Engineering
Lucas is currently a freshman. In high school, he was a Teen Advisory Board member for Teens in the Driver Seat and a TDS member since middle school. He also served as President of the JOI Club (Junior Optimist International) and was past governor of the Nebraska JOI District.
One of Lucas’s goals is to transfer to University of Nebraska Lincoln and start U in the Driver Seat at UNL.
Eber Silva
South Plains College
Political Science
Eber is currently a junior. Last year was his first year on the Collegiate Advisory Board.
One of Eber’s goals this year is to host a speaker who can talk about the dangers of drinking and driving or doing drugs, and plans to utilize the U in the Driver Seat toolkit at events on campus.
Esmeralda Trevino
University of Texas at Austin
BFA Acting
Esmeralda served on the TAB throughout Highschool and was elected Co-Chair her Junior year. She was a State Representative for CrimeStoppers in Texas for four years and is now pursuing a career in Arts.
Her goal is to build a community within her University to encourage safety among students and staff!
Check out past boards:
2021-2022 Collegiate Advisory Board
2020-2021 Collegiate Advisory Board
2019-2020 Collegiate Advisory Board
2018-2019 Collegiate Advisory Board
2017-2018 Collegiate Advisory Board
2016-2017 Collegiate Advisory Board
2014 – 2015 Collegiate Advisory Board
2015-2016 Collegiate Advisory Board
2016-2017 Collegiate Advisory Board