Alcohol 101 teaches teens consequences
of alcohol-related decisions
By Michelle Begnoche
University Record Intern
Your friend is unconscious after drinking at a party. Do you try to wake him, let him sleep it off or call 911? This is one of the questions teens are faced with in the interactive CD-ROM Alcohol 101 for High School Seniors, now a part of the Trauma Burn Center's Real Life program.
At a Nov. 24 event to announce the partnership between the Burn Center and the Century Council—the nonprofit organization that created the Alcohol 101 program and is dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking—U.S. Rep. John Dingall (D-Mich.) expressed his support for the organizations.
"One of the greatest worries about raising kids is how you are going to get them into a healthy, wholesome adulthood," he said. "What you are doing is helping not just a lot of young people, but also a lot of parents."
The objective of Alcohol 101 is to help teens understand the risks involved in underage drinking in a safe environment by allowing them to determine what the characters should do at each step in the evening portrayed, and then showing the consequences of the decisions.
For example, the answer to the questions above is to call 911; that is not the response most underage drinkers would choose, said Pamela Beer, a field coordinator for the Century Council.
"A lot of times young people don't want to be seen as uncool, so they won't call 911," she said. "We want to reinforce that this is dangerous."
The CD-ROM will be added to the curriculum of the Real Life program, geared toward people ages 11-17, who are at high risk or already have tried drugs or alcohol. The daylong event is taught by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, injury prevention specialists, local police and young patient survivors, who engage participants in a discussion on the medical, legal and social ramifications of drug and alcohol use.
"It is more of an interactive segment with the CD-ROM because it lets us focus on different issues," said Pamela Pucci, program coordinator for Real Life.
The program will focus on the drunk driving and alcohol poisoning segments of the CD-ROM.
While the program focuses on high school students, it impacts those at the university level as well.
"Seniors in high school quickly become freshmen in college," said Daniel Oates, chief of the Ann Arbor Police Department. "In the aftermath of the first couple of weekends at college people find themselves with injuries, criminal records, and there is also an upswing in sexual assault."
More Stories
