Just a day or so before Halloween, Catawba College students will be treated to bags that Residence Life staffers hope will help keep them safe and alcohol aware during the ghoulish weekend.
Bags filled with treats and information promoting alcohol awareness will be distributed to students in the residence halls Oct. 29, according to Associate Dean for Residence Life Dan Sullivan. “Again this year, we hope to get our message across in fun and informative way and encourage our students to consider their actions before participating in drinking during what can often be a high-risk weekend.”
Each bag contains a deck of playing cards; a water yo-yo; a “Treat Yourself to a Safe Halloween” booklet containing mock-tail recipes, alcohol awareness facts/statistics and crossword puzzle; slime putty; a bag of trail mix; a bag of candy corn; and an alcohol survey. Each item in the treat bag will be labeled with an alcohol awareness message discussing some of the “horrors” associated with alcohol abuse. Students have until Friday, Nov. 5, to return their surveys and those participating will be eligible for prizes.
Sullivan says the students’ responses to the survey will help the Residence Life Staff plan future on-campus programming as a non-alcoholic alternative for students. The results from last year’s survey provided valuable information about student behaviors and their attitudes relating to the drinking habits of students. The surveys showed that a majority of the students do not plan to drink on the Halloween weekend. They also indicated that more than 60 percent of Catawba students had served as a designated driver during the previous semester.
Catawba’s Halloween Awareness program is made possible through donations from Wigwam/Student Activities, the Office of Public Safety, Health Services, the Dean of the College and Faculty, Public Relations, Counseling and Academic Services, Campus Ministry, the Dean of Students and the Office of Residence Life.
