Department of Education Grant Focuses on Alternatives to Alcohol Use

Thanks to a U.S. Department of Education grant received by Loyola’s alcohol and drug education and support services office (ADESS), the office is advancing its efforts to change mindsets, strengthen community, and offer students alternatives to alcohol use.

The grant allows Cynthia Parcover, assistant director of ADESS and Allie Pearlman Sax, associate director of ADESS, who are co-directing the grant, to provide training to those who work with first-year students—resident assistants, new student orientation student leaders, Outdoor Adventure Experience leaders, FE 100 instructors, and faculty academic advisors and student development administrators—to have influential conversations with first-year students on difficult topics. Research indicates that students who have these types of dialogues make healthier decisions.

The two are also planning to develop a coalition of Baltimore community members such as representatives from other colleges and universities, owners of business establishments, members of the city liquor board, and the Baltimore City police department to address the issues surrounding underage drinking from a policy perspective.

Support from the two-year, $169,216 grant has also helped the student-led OPTIONS club enjoy a significant increase in resources for planning activities designed to give students an alternative to alcohol-oriented events, as well as to attract greater first-year student involvement in its alcohol-free programs. In addition to subsidizing all off-campus OPTIONS events in an effort to increase first-year student participation by 25 percent, the project aims to increase funding for and participation in OPTIONS events that coincide with a semi-annual high-risk drinking event sponsored by a local bar. In the fall, OPTIONS offered a bus trip to Pennsylvania’s Hershey Park for $10 per student. More than 100 participated. In the spring, OPTIONS has planned a bus trip to Virginia’s Kings Dominion. The cost for this trip is $10 per student, including food.

"Offering social alternatives to drinking events is extremely helpful in developing a sense of community," said Amanda Merson,’10, president of OPTIONS, a four-year-old organization that sponsors alcohol-free activities such as bowling nights, laser tag competitions, and trips to local and Broadway theaters throughout the academic year, "OPTIONS offers another way to build community and make friends while having fun and getting off campus. Once students understand who they are and what their values are they are less likely to fall into the trap of doing what they feel everyone else is doing—drinking—and more inclined to do things that they are proud of, or that inspire them."

Parcover and Pearlman Sax recognize the important role organizations like OPTIONS play in encouraging students to participate in healthy social activities.

"OPTIONS offers students these terrific activities at an outrageously low cost—they essentially are providing students with an option they can’t refuse," said Parcover. "We’re subsidizing student participation and helping them with marketing to attract more participants, particularly from the first-year class."

"We want students, as early as possible, to build ties with other students who have these types of activities as regular and valuable parts of their lives," said Pearlman Sax.