With Scholars Day on the horizon, the Health Promotion and Prevention Education (HPPE) department put together an information table in collaboration with Hazen Counseling Center to give students more information on drinking responsibly on the eve of what has become a popular partying day for students at SUNY Brockport.
The goal was to give students an opportunity to reduce the risks that may come on a day with widespread drinking, which included statistics and a visual representation of a safe Black Out Rage Gallon (BORG).
HPPE Peer Educator Leah Siegmann detailed the motivation for presenting this information.
“A lot of students on Scholars Day like to use it as a day not only to celebrate how scholarly they are but also some would say de-stress from the college environment,” Siegmann said. “So, we’re doing this to make sure that students are aware of, if you’re going to drink, how you can do it safely.”
After taking time to share information, Siegmann hopes that students placed an emphasis on reducing drinking risks and stayed informed.
“[Hopefully students learn] the ways they can practice harm reduction. Harm reduction goes from anything like brushing your teeth every morning to making sure you’re using clean needles if you’re going to use drugs or alcohol,” Seigmann said. “If you’re going to use a BORG, it might be a good idea to fill it up with ice and measuring out your shots before you put it inside the BORG to make sure you know how much you’re drinking.”
A lot of work behind the scenes went into what students were greeted with in the Seymour Union.
“I’m the person who created the BORG visual and I had some help from the office at HPPE, so it was a collaborative effort and I’m really proud of how it came together. It took like three or four weeks to put together so we’ve been planning for a long time,” Seigmann said.
HPPE plans to review its levels of engagement from students and has a long-term view on how it can improve its future plans to enhance engagement with students.
Siegmann stressed the importance of information and spreading it across the small college town.
“It’s really important to have community members who are also really passionate about this because it’s really about safety, for not only students but the community, because we do have community members who live here and are going to be seeing that tomorrow or in future years,” Siegmann said.
Representatives from the Monroe County Health Department were on hand to provide students with free Narcan and other informative resources for potential times of need.
Scholars Day seemed to run smoothly without any emergency incidents, which is always the goal for a university like SUNY Brockport.
