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RECRUITING KEY PLAYERS |
The
key to success in your NCAAW program plan is to get
students involved in the process from the beginning.
Not only can students be valuable as committee members,
but they are also closest to your audience, and they
can provide creativity and programming insights that
administrators might be less likely to develop on their
own. Remember, peer-topeer influence is our most effective
education tool! Building a wide level of student ownership
in the planning of your NCAAW will help guarantee acceptance
and participation. The more visible a role your students
play, the more likely other students will want to get
involved. Make sure all of your targeted groups are
represented on your committee or task force. NCAAW is
an opportunity to gain interest and respect for campus-based
prevention programs. It is important to use these special
weeks to build the base for year-round efforts. Many
campuses have used NCAAW to identify students to become
peer educators. Starting a BACCHUS or GAMMA peer education
group as the cornerstone of your program is a great
way to ensure that your NCAAW efforts last well after
your final event for the week.
Identifying
and recruiting key players serves several purposes.
It is simple human nature for people to take ownership
in those things they help create. If you want to build
participation and support for NCAAW, then it is important
that you find allies across campus. Although the players
will vary depending on the size and type of campus,
NCAAW planning committees often consist of student and/or
staff representatives from:
1.
Peer Education Organizations
2. Student Activities/Programming Board
3. Student Government
4. Residence Life
5. Fraternity and Sorority Systems
6. Health Education/Wellness Offices
7. Multicultural Affairs/Student Groups
8. Counseling
9. Athletics/Campus Recreation/Intramurals
10. Faculty Senate
11. Campus Security
12. Campus Food Service
13. Campus Newspaper
14. Student Volunteerism Office
15. Campus Public Relations Office
Although
it is not likely that any committee will consist of
all of these individuals, it is possible that by reviewing
this list, you might recognize an area on your campus
or in your community that you might not have already
contacted. The key is to have as broad a level of participation
as possible to support your efforts and to recruit participation
for your events. From this larger group, specific committees
can be assigned to handle the details of individual
programs. Not everyone on your list will be an active
participant. However, it is quite possible that they
might have financial and other resources available for
co-programming. This can be a great benefit to your
NCAAW efforts.
Collaborating
With Others Expands Our Educational Impact
A guide to how different areas of campus life can support
your activities…
Campus
Activities Can Plan...
- Bulletin Boards and Exhibits
Use a highly traveled area of campus and develop
a prevention message bulletin board on NCAAW
topics.
- Freebies and Giveaways
People are your best bulletin boards to make
people aware of an issue. Have people sign a
pledge card to make responsible decisions about
alcohol, or sign a pledge to never drive when
consuming alcohol, and give them a ribbon or
pin to wear, or pens to use.
- Visual Impact Events
Candlelight services, community parades, and
athletic event halftimes are all highly visible
ways to promote prevention messages.
- Fun Events
Sponsor an alcohol-free tailgate, fun run, mix
up mocktails at an event, sponsor an “Up
All Night” party at your recreation center,
declare a “natural highs” day on
campus with fun games or kite giveaways.
- Lunch Time Programs
Make the most of captive audiences at meal hours
by sponsoring educational trivia contests with
prizes. Host brown bag lunches on hot topics
like the drinking age, zero tolerance laws,
or fake IDs.
- Use the Campus Media and Promote
Events!
Get your campus newspaper, radio and television
stations involved. For promotion, get Vince
& Larry crash dummies to pose for photos
and provide educational literature.
- Show a Film
Certain films like “28 Days,” “Traffic,”
“Leaving Las Vegas,” or “When
a Man Loves a Woman” set the scene for
some great discussion. Include student leaders,
faculty film buffs, and prevention people.
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Ways Campus
Judicial Offices Could Be Involved...
- Include educational sanctions
and community service in your judicial process.
Suggest campus NCAAW events as opportunities
for learning about the effects of alcohol abuse.
- Give students real world information.
What would happen to them if they were cited
in the community for underage drinking, public
intoxication, destruction of property, physical
violence, etc.?
- Construct a display that talks
about community fine amounts and then what students
could purchase instead of paying fines....i.e.
30 compact disks, 60 pizzas, books for the year,
70 trips to the movies, etc.
- Have students write articles
suitable for publication in the student newspaper
on various student health and campus policy
issues.
- Have students who have been
sanctioned assist RAs in the residence halls
and learn what it’s like to promote a
positive living community.
- Work with the local judge
to have students put in hours at the local community
courts when alcohol-related cases are being
heard.
- Have students volunteer in
a community service agency that focuses on addiction
recovery.
- Have the current peer education
group on campus teach a sanction class on alcohol
poisoning, sexual assault, violence, etc.
- Organize a “mock trial”
which focuses on alcohol abuse related issues,
i.e. DUI, alcohol poisoning, assault, etc.
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Things
Athletes and Recreational Sports Professionals
Can Do...
- Use electronic media (such
as scoreboards or marquees) to advertise prevention
messages. Place ads in athletic programs or
in the newspaper.
- Make prevention announcements
at sporting events.
- Have athletes act as prevention
mentors at local high or middle schools.
- Place prevention message on
cups and/or napkins at athletic events.
- Have coaches and athletes
make a public service announcement for radio
or TV.
- Sponsor a responsible “tailgate”
party in conjunction with an athletic contest.
- Hang safety and prevention
banners in the gymnasium and at the fields.
- Sponsor or co-sponsor a fun,
visible event in conjunction with NCAAW, such
as a fun run or walk or a tug-o-war.
- Open the fitness center for
longer hours.
- Offer free fitness demonstrations.
- Do blood pressure or cholesterol
screenings.
- Have a sporting event marathon
(softball, volleyball) to raise awareness and/or
money.
- Offer free swing dancing or
ballroom dancing lessons.
- Offer a “performance
and alcohol” workshop for athletes and
those interested in fitness.
- Sell mocktails at athletic
contests to promote NCAAW and to raise funds
for other programs.
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What Fraternities
and Sororities Can Do...
- Sponsor a health and safety
message banner contest between organizations.
- Sponsor a mocktail contest
between groups.
- Host the “ideal”
party with theme (alcohol free with proceeds
going to prevention agencies).
- Have a fraternity and sorority
chapter participate together in a safety workshop
using an interactive program like Alcohol 101.
- Bring together all groups
and sponsor a “Day of Dialogue”
that would involve many representatives from
the campus community and focus on improving
behaviors surrounding misuse of alcohol.
- Place ads in the newspaper
supporting the campus-wide prevention events,
or social norms promoting positive behaviors.
- Have members attend the campus
events.
- Ask an attorney to run a mock
trial for a DUI case using students as the defendants,
witnesses, and jury.
- Have a 5K or 10K run to raise
awareness about student health and/or raise
money for a local prevention agency.
- Volunteer to do community
service projects with local agencies.
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Ways Residence
Life Staffs Can Be Involved...
- Have your own “Cannes
Film Festival”. Incorporate some films
that address issues surrounding alcohol abuse
or personal safety in the area lounge.
- Conduct a progressive party
with each hall responsible for a different food/beverage/dessert
and then have people make the rounds from one
hall to the other.
- Invite one of the campus counselors/members
of the health center to be the guest for the
night. Have them give a presentation that evening
but then hang out with students.
- Have a mocktail contest.
- Do something to get in shape
every day, a fun run on Monday, swimming on
Tuesday, aerobics or weight training on Wednesday,
etc.
- Perform peer theatre or skits
on educational topics such as alcohol poisoning
or sexual assault, followed by a discussion.
- Have your own talk show one
night in the lounge, using your own format and
creative questions to start a discussion on
relationships.
- Do your own version of ‘the
life experience wall’ where you ask people
to write down on index cards how the abuse of
alcohol or other drugs has affected their fife.
These cards then make up the “bricks of
the wall.
- Hand out laminated “saving
a life from alcohol poisoning” cards to
each resident.
- Incorporate alcohol awareness/prevention
into the October in-service training.
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Things
Campus Police and Safety Can Do for NCAAW...
- Host a luncheon for all residence
life folks explaining your role in the prevention
process, and form a partnership.
- Invite members of the community
to form a campus safe walk program that provides
escorts at night.
- Using beer goggles, conduct
a “field sobriety testing” experiment’
where students of age are put through the test
given to suspected DUI offenders while wearing
the beer goggles. Have
these students conduct simple tasks such as
writing their name, walking a straight line,
etc.
- Conduct a “mock DUI
crash” which involves staging an accident
on campus, local EMT and police and fire rescue
professionals.
- Try to get a local cab company
to offer a discounted price to anyone with a
student ID in order to discourage impaired driving.
- Find out if any members of
your public safety crew have any interesting
educational experiences or interests that could
become a campus program This may include workplace
drug testing or Drug Enforcement Agency work
etc.
- Do a program about the legal
and financial costs of getting a DUI. Take the
total costs of that arrest and do a “what
you could have gotten instead of a DUI”
campaign including, new stereo, computer, spring
break in Cancun etc.
- Set up roadblocks/safety checks
to check for impaired drivers.
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Things
Health Education, Health Centers & Counseling
Centers Can Do...
- Curriculum Infusion
Contact Journalism and English classes to promote
and enter the IATF Writing Contest addressing
high risk drinking. Work with the student newspaper
to feature some of these op-ed pieces in the
paper during NCAAW. Ask marketing and advertising
classes to develop campaigns for healthy choices
to be featured in the newspaper.
Be creative and get as many departments on campus
to participate as possible.
- Host a meeting of student
organizations and peer educators to get input
for each group’s participation in the
week.
- Create fact sheets or offer
to provide information for student groups, newspapers,
and radio PSA’s for campus events.
- Add alcohol and other drug
questions to your health center’s medical
history questionnaires if they do not already
appear.
- Work with community outreach
or service learning on your campus to give students
an opportunity to work in area halfway houses
for recovering addicts.
- Invite recovering alumni back
to campus as speakers for groups in which they
were involved such as athletic teams, fraternities
and sororities, student government, etc.
- Set up a health fair to coincide
with the week. Offer local and campus resources
that focus on healthy lifestyles.
- Provide an in service for
faculty and staff on how to address students
suspected of having alcohol and other drug problems.
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Ideas for
Chief Student Affairs Officers to Support NCAAW...
- Honor student organizations
that promote healthy lifestyles with a letter
of recognition, phone call, E-mail, or sponsor
a luncheon.
- Write an article or letter
to the editor of the student newspaper regarding
the importance of the week of awareness and
year of action to decrease alcohol-related problems
on campus.
- Encourage staff and faculty
to participate in events of the week. Provide
incentives or flex time.
- Create a task force to review
policy and make suggestions toward developing
a healthier environment. Include community members
and alumni on the committee.
- Meet with Academic Administrators
and ask for help, ideas and support for the
NCAAW on your campus. Encourage curriculum infusion
of alcohol-related issues into each discipline
during the week.
- Provide money for mini-grants
for student organizations to sponsor alcohol-free
events.
- Ask Parking Services to include
a “Don’t drink and drive”
or “Wear your seat belt” messages
to the parking passes issued by the institution.
- Initiate a student leader
town meeting on the issues of alcohol abuse
on your campus. Ask leaders from Peer Education,
Greek Community, Academic Honors Groups, and
Athletic Teams to participate.
- Meet with students who have
been in the judicial system for alcohol-related
problems. Ask for their input and suggestions.
- Meet with local bar owners
to discuss policies and mutual safety issues
surrounding the campus.
- Participate in and be visible
during NCAAW events.
- Include NCAAW as an agenda
item for discussion with senior staff officers
and faculty.
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ENLISTING
SUPPORT TO KEEP OUR CAMPUSES SAFE
Ways that Parents, Students, and the Campus Can Promote
Year-Round Prevention Efforts . . .
Our
campus, our community, and our families, all share in
the concern for the safety and welfare of our students.
All of these groups need to be partners in preventing
college drinking tragedies. We urge parents and families
to consider the role of alcohol before packing the car
to head off to college. There are many resources available
through the local campus, community agencies, and national
organizations. There are many things that college students,
parents, and college officials can do to prevent the
harm that alcohol abuse can cause students and the campus
community.
Suggestions
for Parents
- Talk
to your son or daughter about the legal use of alcohol
and the need for responsible decision making; emphasize
that “competitive” drinking, drinking
as a hazing ritual, and drinking games can result
in alcohol poisoning, and can kill even the most healthy
young adult. Discuss any family history of chemical
dependency.
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Explain clearly to your son or daughter that there
is a balance between study time and social time, that
he/she will need to find the balance that will meet
the academic expectations you all agree on. Discuss
the legal consequences of having a fake I.D.
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Talk to your son or daughter about the role of alcohol
and how alcohol abuse can affect achieving his or
her goals. Discuss the reality that peer pressure
can occur about drinking choices.
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Keep the lines of communication open - call and e-mail
often. Communicate as friends and as parents.
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Visit the campus and network with other families as
well as other college officials. Encourage your son
or daughter to become involved in campus life by joining
organizations or working on projects of interest.
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Encourage your son or daughter to provide written
authorization to the college to grant permission for
the release of health and safety information to you.
Suggestions
for Students
- Study.
Remember the goals you are to achieve while you are
in college!
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Stand up for your beliefs. If you do not drink alcohol,
it is okay to say so. There are other students out
there who feel the same. The majority of college students
today are of legal age (21). Most students who choose
to drink, use alcohol moderately.
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Have fun and socialize without the involvement of
alcohol, be prepared that some students may pressure
you to drink.
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Get involved in campus activities and if you can’t
find a group that seems to fit you, it is surprisingly
easy to form a new one!
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Go out in groups and watch out for your friends. If
you all go out together, come home together too. Help
each other get home safely. Know the signs of alcohol
poisoning.
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Be aware of the campus education and counseling resources.
Look for peer education programs and student led health
and safety programs. Don’t forget that your
family is a source of support too, so keep in touch
often.
Suggestions
for Colleges
-
Make a firm statement that underage drinking will
not be tolerated, and engage the local community in
developing and enforcing the policy.
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Promote and sponsor many (and mainly) campus activities
that are alcohol free.
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Provide alcohol-free living options.
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Adequately fund alcohol and other drug prevention
personnel. Support peer education programs and student
led initiatives.
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Disseminate campus alcohol and other drug policies
that are uniformly enforced with all students, faculty,
and staff.
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Encourage and be receptive to student feedback and
involvement in maintaining a campus community that
will be healthy, safe, and live up to the university
mission of education and retention.
Colleges
and universities should enlist the direct support of
their president, who can write persuasively and effectively
to the parents of incoming students and to the faculty
stating the behavioral standards - setting the tone
for community life - at the school. Faculty must be
cognizant of being on the “front-line.”
They are close to the students, influential, and intelligent
observers. A student who needs help, through university
or community resources, may be most obvious to a faculty
member first. On a personal level, students need to
hear that they are responsible as individuals, that
they must know their own limit and consider their family
history and genetic and physical makeup in determining
whether and how much to drink. Teaching them how to
handle acute intoxication of a classmate or friend should
also be on the agenda. |
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