Party Sober, held on March 22 in the Merillat Fitness Center, is an annual event to promote having fun without drinking. The event is designed to help decrease the amount of underage drinking on campus, as well as to decrease the amount of drunk driving.
The event, sponsored by the Adrian College Student Government Association (SGA), has been held for the last six years. In the past, the event has featured games, blow-ups, and prizes. Past years included sumo wrestling, video games and obstacle courses.
This year’s event included a Minute to Win It Game, which gave players a minute to complete a challenge. It also included a dance challenge game, snowboarding game, and music video station.
At the music video station, students could dress up in costumes and then dance and sing on screen to a song of their choice. Afterward they were able to take a copy of their video home.
This year’s blow-ups included human bowling, where students are pushed in a giant blow up ball into pins, an obstacle course, and a racing challenge. The event also included a trivia game about alcohol.
In the main gym, students played Goal Ball. Goal Ball is a game in which teams of three students are blindfolded and throw a ball down the court to score on their opposing team. The team that has the most goals at the end of the 10-minute game wins. Students that attended Party Sober also received free shirts.
“A lot goes into planning the event,” said junior Elida Omerkic. “Booking the inflatables, planning the activities, designing and ordering the T-shirts, getting the food, organizing the games and getting the prizes, all while staying in budget.” The event has approximately 500 students attend each year.
“I like going to Party Sober, because it shows you can have fun without needing alcohol to do it,” said junior Corey Thomas.
Underage drinking is one of the number one causes of death among people ages 18-21 with approximately 5,000 deaths per year (undertheinfluence.com). On college campuses, approximately 1,825 students between the ages of 18-24 die each ear from alcohol related deaths. In this same age group, over three million people drive drunk each year.
Other side effects from alcohol include injury, assault, sexual abuse, and unsafe sex. Further side effects are academic problems, health problems, suicide attempt, vandalism and property damage. 31 percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse. Six percent met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months. (collegedrinkingprevention.gov)
There are multiple ways to prevent underage drinking on college campuses. The number one way to prevent underage drinking is to not give into peer pressure, the “just say no” policy. Other ways to prevent underage drinking include assessing alcohol problems, offering motivational enhancement interventions, and increasing enforcement of underage drinking laws. Further ways include restricting alcohol retail stores, increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, and creating groups on college campuses that are designed to prevent underage drinking on campuses.
To learn more about underage drinking consequences and prevention visit www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov and www.undertheinfluence.com.
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