Kaleidoscope of Change:
Patterns in Prevention
sponsored by The Inter-Association Task Force
on Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Issues
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2002 National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week Kaleidoscope of Change: Patterns in Prevention sponsored by The Inter-Association Task Force on Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Issues |
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2001-2002 AWARD WINNERS |
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Bradley University The Bradley University Wellness Program was established to provide students with resources and information to assist them in developing a healthy and balanced lifestyle. The various types of programming emphasize the seven dimensions of wellness: physical, spiritual, emotional, social, intellectual, occupational, and environmental. The peer leadership program, the Bradley H.E.A.T. (Help, Encourage, and Teach), is a significant factor in the success of the alcohol education and prevention efforts on campus. The role of the trained peer leader is to provide information, serve as a referral source, facilitate learning, listen actively, serve as a change agent, and be a role model. Trained peer leaders co-facilitate informal and interactive workshops that include intense social marketing campaigns in substance abuse, smoking, sexual health, and stress relief/ massage. In addition, the H.E.A.T. often collaborate with other student organizations such as the Inter-Fraternity and Panhellenic Councils as well as university departments such as athletics and counseling. Both the H.E.A.T. and the Wellness Program have an innovative website and an email account where students can obtain more information and ask questions about health-related topics. In an effort to reach out into the community, the Peer Leaders assist area high schools with some of their alcohol education programs such as Operation Prom Night and Operation Snowball. Peer Leaders also present many educational workshops with childrens community groups. One of the most important aspects of the community outreach program sponsored by the H.E.A.T. is the Peer Mentoring program established in a middle school in the Peoria area. Peer leaders train extensively on signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse and addiction, confrontation skills needed to help a friend, and resouce and referral information. These skills are used for an intensive one-on-one alcohol education program called Fresh Start. Alcohol Awareness is promoted through Safe Spring Break campaigns, National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week events, Alcohol Awareness Month activities, and on a smaller scale, mocktails served at Siblings Weekend and Casino Night. |
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College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary offers proactive, year round, comprehensive services that include alcohol awareness, training, prevention, education, policy enforcement, early intervention, counseling, and referral programs. The goals of the Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program are to eliminate underage drinking, to reduce the abuse of alcohol among those who choose to drink and for whom it is legal, to support those who choose not to drink, and to reduce the negative consequences resulting from alcohol. These goals are accomplished through targeting at risk groups on campus (such as freshmen, athletes, fraternities and sororities), outreach programming to Greek organizations and residence halls, and curriculum infusion through their Guest Lecturer and Dont Cancel That Class programs. In addition, William & Mary maintains the F.I.S.H. (Free Information on Student Health) Bowl resource center, uses student expertise as F.I.S.H. Bowl volunteers, seeks support from the off-campus community, faculty and parents. They also write a column for the student newspaper called Fishing for Answers. Outreach education is offered systematically to many different groups on campus, with a primary focus on freshman orientation, athletics, and through creation of substance-free residence halls. There are four permanent display sites and two temporary sites around campus that dispense accurate and norm setting health information year-round. |
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The Ohio State University NCAAW 2001 at The Ohio State University included 11 diverse events that aimed to: 1) increase student knowledge regarding the potential safety, health, social, academic, and legal consequences of alcohol misuse, 2) encourage lowrisk, responsible drinking, 3) assist students in exploring alternatives to drinking, 4) correct misperceptions regarding the norms for alcohol use at OSU, and 5) provide students with information about campus and community alcohol prevention, student assistance, and wellness resources. The OSU Comprehensive Prevention Plan includes social norms marketing, the Party Smart initiative, and alchol-free Late Night programming. NCAAW events included interactive workshops (Reasons for Drinking and Women & Alcohol), game show nights (Double Dare, Jeopardy, Weakest Link, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?), movie nights (28 Days and When a Man Loves a Woman), party safety awareness activities, and alcohol-free late Night events. Over 2000 students attended these events. The Student Wellness Center coordinated the planning and implementation that involved faculty, staff, students, and community members. |
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Regis University The Choices program is a health promotion program at Regis University, and the focus of the 2001-2002 academic year was the creation of a new program called the Behavioral Health Program designed to address harm prevention and health promotion at Regis. The Behavioral health Program oversees the social norms marketing campaign, all disciplinerelated alcohol and drug referrals, educational programming, and educational materials distribution and development. Second, the Choices education program experienced unprecedented growth in membership. The students committed to several community service projects and developed programs addressing responsible decision-making about alcohol, impaired driving prevention, club drugs, stress management, eating disorders, verbal violence an more. They presented over 18 programs impacting more than 500 people. Approximately half of their membership is trained through the CPE (Certified Peer Educator) training program. The Unbar mocktail bar served 1346 people at events, and passive programs and social marketing impacted over 7500 people. |
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Roger Williams University The RWU Task Force and Health Education strive to provide programming for NCAAW and throughout the year to call the attention to the issue of alcohol use. Their NCAAW activities had four primary components. First was their campus-wide support of the IATF national Writing competition that encouraged students to submit op-ed pieces on the topic of highrisk drinking. Secondly, the Health Advocates created a display in the student union focusing on alcohol poisoning. It depicted a dorm room after a party complete with all the items for credibility, including students passed out. Another event sponsored by the Health Advocates was a guest magician who performed card tricks that he related to drinking and driving issues. SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) created a display with a car that had been in a drunk driving crash and passed out information to students. Students also conducted the green bean campaign, getting students to look at the amount of alcohol consumed and how to determine when to get help for consuming too much. |
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State University of New York at Oneonta The comprehensive Alcohol and Other Drug Program for the 2001-2002 academic year began with summer orientation and a presentations and information to students and parents on the consequences of high-risk drinking. The Alcohol and Other Drug task Force also targeted first year students with social norms messages focusing on academic success entitled Eye on Success. In the Fall, resident assistants were trained in social norms theory and the NCAA Choices campaign launched its first up all night Late Night event. Oneonta Late Night is a series of events held Friday and Saturday nights that offers alcohol free social events. In addition, 14 events were held during the NCAAW Oksoberfest with 12 different campus and community organizations working together. In November the Dragon Design Team, comprised of athletes and marketing club students, received one-credit for creating the social norms campaign that examined frequency of alcohol use. Spring semester offered Safe Spring Break activities with the Make the Break campaign featuring a pledge card drive and distribution of safe spring break kits. Additional message posters were created by the Dragon Design Team, in addition to newspaper articles, ads, trainings, and presentations to classes about the norming campaign. Oneonta also made many educational outreach presentations to classes in their Dont Cancel that Class initiative. The Checkpoint Alcohol and Other Drug Education and Intervention program is ongoing for disciplinary referrals and counseling. |
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University of Kansas Hawk Nights are once a month evening activities that are held to give students more programming alternatives rather than just going to bars or parties where alcohol is present. The programs are held between 9 PM and 1 AM nine times during the year. Types of activities include a student talent night, casino night, recreation center nights, sand volleyball, and a giant twister game as interactive events. Over 300 students attended many of the events offered in the series. |
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University of Missouri Columbia The University of Missouri-Columbias Wellness Resource Center (WRC) provides comprehensive prevention programs and services. Alcohol Responsibility Month is the highlight of the year and serves as the springboard for the yearlong efforts. The WRC in partnership with students uses a responsible decision-making approach coupled with harm reduction to convince students to make good choices in regard to alcohol and other drugs. WRC also addresses stress reduction, self-esteem, nutrition, fitness, and tobacco. A very extensive social norming campaign is incorporated into every prevention effort. Students are exposed weekly to the social norming message that Most of Us...Drink 0-4 drinks per week. Trainings have taken place for faculty, staff, students, community members and parents to help them realize their role in communicating the social norming messages. This year an additional campaign was implemented to increase the believeability of the social norming message. The WRC/ADAPT has implemented a comprehensive environmental management approach that includes a campus and community coalition called the Alcohol Summit and a statewide coalition called Partners in Prevention. The strategies this year have included working towards limiting access to alcohol through efforts to eliminate inexpensive drink specials, instituting dry fraternities, examining the alcohol policy, establishing parental notification, trying to change the citys noise ordinance, and creating predatory drug kits for students.The strength of the prevention efforts of the University of Missouri- Columbia comes as a result of significant student involvement, creativity, and evaluation. The peer educators, PARTY, GAMMA, and steering committee members create, plan and implement the majority of the programs and services throughout the year. These events include: freshmen orientation, Alcohol Responsibility Month, Great American Smokeout, Safe Holiday Break, Sexual Responsibility Week, Safe Spring Break, Wellness Month, and over 200 outreach programs in residence halls, Greek houses, classrooms, and over 20 high schools throughout the state. |
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University of Northern Colorado The results of the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey show that prevention efforts are having an impact at UNC. They show a 10% reduction in high-risk/binge drinking. The two most important factors setting this program apart is that it is diverse and comprehensive focusing on alternative activities for students to attend and education on a variety of health issues. Through a grant from the Colorado Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, a social norms media campaign was launched. Students in advertising classes in the college of business designed the Bear to Believer campaign. CPE (Certified Peer Educators) offered Best Foot Forward dance lessons for six weeks in the spring, and students sponsored Saturday Night Jam an all night party in the campus recreation center with events ranging from karaoke, sumo wrestling, climbing wall races, and casino tables. NCAAW activities were pledge card signings, guest speakers, and events with over 800 students participating. In addition to promoting safe holiday break, students created safe spring break travel kits that included pledges not to drink and drive. Educational outreach had CPE members presenting sexual health and responsibility information in Sex in This City with 400 students attending workshops. Night Games were sponsored on Thursday evenings with events like strobelight volleyball, Indoor Flag Football, and Dodge Ball tournaments with 5000 students attending throughout the year. |
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University of Scranton The peer education program at the university is a distinctive group involving over 90 students. The program is divided into three separate groups each focusing on a particular issue. The groups are ADAPT (Alcohol and Drug Awareness Peer Team), PEACE (Peer Education on AIDS in the College Environment), and SART (Sexual Assault Response Team). All groups go through an intensive three-day training process in addition to seminars throughout the year. Student Co-Directors lead the groups. The groups receive programming requests from the campus and community, though most of the educational focus is placed on the students on campus. Extra programming takes place during the first six weeks of the Fall Semester to educate incoming students. Interactive programs like Life After the Party and many passive program efforts inform students of health and safety issues. Due to the success of the educational efforts, all of the peer education groups have increased in size. |
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The IATF would also like to recognize the following campuses as honorable mention programs in the contest:
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Whats the perfect amount of programming? The answer is different campus to campus. Much of that depends on what types of programs people have proven willing to attend, the size of your school, the amount of residential students versus off-campus students, the amount of money you can gather from co-sponsorships, and so on. Many schools like to sponsor a program each day during NCAAW. For some, thats too many. Instead, these programmers focus their energy on doing two or three well-planned events. Other campuses try to offer several programming options every day, taking place in different locations in order to make it as easy as possible for people to attend. Plan accordingly, based on your campus environment, the amount of help you have to implement your programs, and the budget available to adequately market and prepare each of these sessions. |