It is 8 p.m. Friday, and the world around freshman Victoria Vande Griend becomes hazy as she dons the pair of drunk goggles handed to her.
The track lines of Stankowski Field appear wavy as she stumbles toward her tricycle. For Vande Griend, it is a concerted effort just to find the pedals, let alone complete the small loop of an obstacle course set up for her.
This simulation was set up to show students the affect of alcohol on motor skills and clarity.
“It was disorienting,” Vande Griend said. “I couldn’t tell where my feet were. I couldn’t tell where my hands were. It’s scary to think that people try to drive like that.”
The Drunk Driving Railroad was one of four educational stations set up to teach students about Alcohol Responsibility at the 12-Hour Walk held last Friday as the first event in MU’s Alcohol Responsibility Month.
With free food, popular music, a point competition and interactive stations, the walk attracted 1,274 students. Planned by Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol and Peer Educators, the main focus of ARM and the 12-Hour Walk is to relay information about safe drinking while still maintaining a laid back, inviting atmosphere for other students.
“We try to make (the night) really fun so it doesn’t seem like they’re getting information that’s being forced onto them,” Peer Education Program Coordinator Jenna Jordan said. “We don’t want to force anything on people, and we don’t want to do anything boring. Students can get this information from other students, the peer educators, so it’s not off putting at all. It’s just students talking to students.”
This is the same atmosphere the Wellness Resource Center hopes to carry through to every event planned in the month of October, including two lunch bag seminars, a keynote speaker and the GAMMA Jam Avenue.
The next upcoming event is the Resource Fair, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 11 at Stotler Lounge, where representatives from many organizations such as Mizzou After Dark, Alcoholics Anonymous, the MU Police Department, health advocates and Get to Know CoMo will be there to pass out information and answer questions.
“Students really like (the resource fair) because they can go to all these different booths and be exposed to all this information and at the end of their time there, they turn in their little punch card and get free pizza, free soda and a free T-shirt,” Wellness Resource Center Director Kim Dude said. “It’s a very nonthreatening, educational, yet fun event.”
She said ARM’s overall goal is to help give students a better knowledge of drinking with health and safety in mind.
“Our data has shown an improvement in student behavior over the last, especially five years, so our students are making better choices,” Dude said. “We still have a number of students making dangerous decisions and so we’re never going to solve the problem but we can work toward improving it the best we can and that’s what we try to do.”
ARM and the 12-Hour Walk are steps in the direction toward that improvement.
“The fact that it’s a Friday night and still people come to this walk says a lot about what’s important to students on campus,” freshman Christina Haser said. “It’s proving a point.”
