Interactive Alcohol Awareness Event Aims to Educate MC Students
The event, held ahead of National Alcohol Awareness Month, focused on educating students about the risks of alcohol misuse.
Mississippi College Mental Health Services, alongside the Campus Programming Board, held an interactive alcohol awareness pop-up event on the quad on March 3. Students were able to participate in educational activities that outlined the negative effects of alcohol overconsumption.
Participants were able to create “mocktails,” grab snacks, and experience an inflatable obstacle course while wearing vision-impairing goggles. The activity was meant to show how the dramatic effects of having too much to drink can impair an individual’s ability to respond to situations quickly.
“We want to bring awareness by wearing the fatal vision impaired goggles,” Jenny Crutchfield, director of mental health services at Mississippi College, said. “It may seem silly to put on these goggles and do an obstacle course, but it really does give the harsh reality that our vision, our perception, our experience drastically changes when we drink alcohol.” Students also received a handout describing the effects of alcohol on the body, the importance of moderation, and the behaviors associated with high blood alcohol content.
Students who attended the pop-up event shared their thoughts on the message and meaning behind the unique activity. “We can have fun without alcohol. It just shows that we don’t need to do stuff like that,” Baileigh Grisham, a junior at MC, said. “We can just have fun.”
Crutchfield commented on her office’s strategy and her hopes for the event’s impact. “I think it’s real important to reach college students by doing fun and engaging activities, because they do not want to sit and listen to someone talk to them all the time,” Crutchfield said. “And so [we are] always looking to find better ways to kind of grasp someone’s attention, and so that’s what this was about.”
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) found that each year, more than 1,500 people ages 18 to 24 lose their lives due to unintentional injuries associated with alcohol consumption, highlighting the risks that alcohol use can pose to young adults. The institute’s College Drinking Prevention campaign finds that approximately half of full-time college students ages 18 to 22 report consuming alcohol at least once per month, and nearly one-third engage in binge drinking, underscoring the prevalence of high-risk drinking behaviors among college-aged individuals.
“I would just say that problematic drinking and addiction is very common, and we don’t talk about it as much, especially in our generation,” Anna Gray-Lewis, one of the event directors, said.
As National Alcohol Awareness Month approaches in April, efforts like this event aim to encourage safer decision-making and greater awareness among students.
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