Ready, set, please don’t drink and drive

FMU celebrated alcohol awareness day on Tuesday, Sept. 11 on the CEMC lawn from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and in the Lee Nursing Building from 3:45-5 p.m.

The celebration consisted of two events and involved many different departments and organizations.

Departments like campus safety, student life and the Campus Activities Board (CAB) were present at the table discussing interesting facts about alcohol and helping students navigate an obstacle course.

The first event of the day was the fatal simulator pedal cart course.

More than 20 students came out to see just how dangerous drunk driving can be.

In order to ride the go-cart, students had to wear alcohol impairment goggles.

Students could drive the pedal cart several times using different goggles that were more or less difficult to see through to represent the different levels of drunkenness.

Next to the obstacle course was the sign-in table where resident assistant (RA) Breonna Brown along with the dean of students Latosha Brand helped students.

As students were signing in, there were different fun facts about alcohol spread across the table.

“Surprisingly, the students were very interested in the fun facts about alcohol,” Brown said.

The next event was the town hall round table discussion.

This discussion was a way for students to find out firsthand about alcohol awareness from campus police, Brand and Kayla Duncan from student counseling.

Officer Lieutenant Moore presented a detailed presentation on the dangers of alcohol, what it can do to our bodies and how it can prevent us from following our dreams.

Moore told students how early alcohol use can lead to becoming alcohol dependent, causing you to make poor decisions and do things that you wouldn’t normally do.

“My focus today is to talk about how alcohol affects your body and to make you responsible when you do choose to drink,” Moore said.

Duncan told students about her own personal experiences as a counselor dealing with students who had become dependent on alcohol.

“This is not a joke,” Duncan said. “This is real life, this stuff really happens.”

After Duncan, Brand informed students about the consequences of being caught on campus participating in underage drinking or consuming unauthorized drinks.

Brand reminded students that although getting in trouble because of alcohol on campus is a serious infraction, it is not the end of the world.

However, she told the students that it is something that always follows students and something that can revisit students at very inconvenient times.

Every year, FMU does some sort of alcohol awareness program. However, this year was the first time that FMU used peddle carts, simulator goggles and hosted a roundtable discussion panel.

RA Justin Addison along with other RAs, sports groups and other student organizations came out to the forum.

“I think the round table discussion was very beneficial for the campus because the more you know about alcohol, the more you can protect yourself and be responsible should you choose to drink,” Addison said.