Share the importance of alcohol safety with these engaging program ideas.
Heading off to college is one of the most exciting times in a young person’s life, but with all of their newfound independence, it’s also crucial to teach them about alcohol safety.
Here are some alcohol awareness programs to consider adding to your orientation schedule or other events for incoming first-year college students and other students.
1. Fatal Vision® Alcohol Goggles
2. Danger in Every Step (DIES)® Activity Mat
3. SUM-IT-CUP®
4. Smash Match® Alcohol Impairment Challenge
5. intoxiclock®
6. Facts & Figures
Read on to learn more about these effective alcohol awareness program ideas.
Fatal Vision® Alcohol Goggles
The Fatal Vision® Alcohol Goggles allow students to feel the effects of alcohol in a safe and controlled environment. While wearing the goggles, students can experience firsthand how disorienting and dangerous drinking to excess can be.
Our program kit includes tools to simulate alcohol impairment at different Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels and deliver a memorable experience about alcohol misuse and abuse. Asking the students to first complete a simple task like walking in a straight line or attempting to shoot a basketball without the alcohol goggles and then with them is an engaging way to highlight the serious subject of alcohol misuse.
Danger in Every Step (DIES®) Activity Mat
The DIES® mat depicts several common obstacles and situations that can become hazards for a person under the influence of alcohol. From being on a balcony to navigating sidewalks and flights of stairs, the DIES® mats show just how dangerous everyday situations can become when alcohol impairment is involved. The mats are for use in conjunction with the Fatal Vision® Alcohol Goggles.
SUM-IT-CUP®
SUM-IT-CUP® is a fun and engaging activity about a serious subject matter — it teaches students about Standard Drinking Units (SDU), which represents the number of servings of alcohol in a beverage. The goal is for students to understand the importance of knowing how many drinks they’ve had and how many servings of alcohol were in those drinks.
Smash Match® Alcohol Impairment Challenge
The Smash Match® Alcohol Impairment Challenge is a new activity for use with the Fatal Vision® Alcohol Goggles. Students are timed using the Smash Match® Mat, placing various traffic-related shapes onto the mat first without the goggles and then while wearing them. This activity shows that our ability to accomplish simple tasks is greatly diminished once our senses are impaired.
intoxiclock®
intoxiclock® is an interactive software program that illustrates how a person’s height, weight, gender, drink of choice, and consumption rate affect their BAC and how long it takes to metabolize that alcohol fully. This gives students a personalized look at how drinking impacts their bodies and how long it takes for alcohol to leave their system completely.
Facts & Figures
We also recommend highlighting some statistics on college-aged drinking behavior to show how dangerous it can often be.
• In a survey conducted by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 33% of college students (ages 18-22) reported binge drinking in the last month. The survey defined ‘binge drinking’ as consuming five drinks or more on one occasion for males and four drinks or more for females.
• The most recent statistics from the NIAAA estimate that about 1,519 college students ages 18-24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.
• The most recent NIAAA statistics estimate that a staggering 696,000 students ages 18-24 are assaulted each year by another student who has been drinking.
• About one-quarter of college students report having negative academic consequences because of their drinking, including missing class, falling behind in their studies, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.
To learn more about Fatal Vision’s alcohol awareness program ideas and products and how you can use them in your college educational programs, please visit our online store or contact our team today.
