The NCAA News - News & Features

Fifteen more schools win CHOICES grants

The grants, totaling nearly $150,000, bring to 52 the total number awarded since the CHOICES program began in 1991. Approximately $656,000 has been awarded to institutions since then.

The CHOICES program seeks to encourage NCAA institutions and conferences to implement and evaluate alcohol-education programs. Funded programs are designed to work toward the elimination of illegal and excessive consumption of alcohol on college campuses.

Program administrators note that the use of alcohol by college students who are under the legal drinking age and the misuse of alcohol by students for whom alcohol is a legal substance are of great concern to the NCAA.

Since the program's inception, the NCAA Foundation has awarded CHOICES grants with support from Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. The NCAA education services group is responsible for administration of CHOICES, which recently has focused on implementation of campus programs.

Many of the 15 new funded programs feature peer-education components, in which student-athletes and other students receive training to lead teammates and classmates in discussions promoting alcohol education.

Other programs feature such elements as use of media, community outreach and events offering alternatives to alcohol use.

All of the programs have characteristics that have been common in CHOICES: They are campuswide in focus and are built around athletics events, activities and/or personalities. All also emphasize, in one way or another, the choices students must make about alcohol use.

Recipients of the latest CHOICES grants (and amounts of the grants) are California State Polytechnic University, Pomona ($10,000); Florida International University ($9,750); Iowa State University ($10,350); Lafayette College ($9,341); Longwood College ($9,418); the University of Memphis ($10,000); MacMurray College ($9,665); Mount St. Mary College (New York) ($9,979); the University of Nebraska, Omaha ($9,997); New York University ($10,000); Northern Arizona University ($10,000); Northern Kentucky University ($10,000); the University of Rhode Island ($10,540); Salem State College ($10,000); and the University of Washington ($10,069).

Application forms for CHOICES grants to be awarded in 1997 will be mailed to member institutions in October. The forms and grant guidelines will be sent to athletics directors, chief executive officers and directors of student affairs.

The deadline for applications will be in early February 1997.

The 15 newly funded CHOICES programs are described below.

SMART Choices
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

SMART (Students Managing Alcohol Responsibly Through) Choices is a comprehensive program using "Choice Tickets" as a means of encouraging student attendance at athletics events and at other campus activities.

Each ticket stub contains educational information addressing illegal use and excessive consumption of alcohol, as well as statistical information regarding alcohol use at Cal Poly Pomona.

The ticket book will be stamped after each use, and students can turn in the stamped book for prizes and rewards. The books will be made available through displays at events.

Healthy Choices Through Mentoring
Florida International University

This student-athlete mentoring program is designed to provide innovative alcohol education and prevention programs targeting a multicultural student population.

Fifteen student-athletes will be selected to form TEAM (The Educational Athletic Mentors), and will join with 15 BACCHUS students to receive specialized training in prevention of alcohol use and abuse, communication skills, and the responsibilities of being a mentor and effective peer educator. The TEAM members and BACCHUS students then will offer educational presentations in a variety of settings, including a required course for Florida International freshmen and at university events.

SAFE Choices
Iowa State University

Iowa State's program seeks to educate student-athletes about healthy, responsible decisions concerning alcohol use and to share program principles through community outreach stressing the positive values of education, athletics and goal achievement.

The program will capitalize on the logical relationship between athletics and healthy lifestyles to correct misperceptions about the importance and prevalence of alcohol use among college students.

Program activities include training and use of student-athlete mentors and outreach teams and a public relations/publicity program aimed at both the campus and community.

CLEAR CHOICES
Lafayette College

The CLEAR CHOICES program is designed as an aggressive attempt to change campus attitudes and behaviors involving alcohol.

The program will feature late-evening entertainment aimed at the underage student body (athletics activities that are not regularly offered at Lafayette or that an individual can pursue as a life-long sport); an educational component addressing such issues as amount of alcohol consumed, frequency of consumption, conditions that produce excessive drinking and consequences of irresponsible alcohol use; and a mentoring program using responsible student-athletes as role models.

Heathly Choices, Healthy Lives
Longwood College

The Longwood program is designed to focus attention on the school's 200 student-athletes.

After establishing a reasonable, enforceable alcohol policy within the athletics department, the program will involve athletics teams in existing peer-education programs and offer a series of alcohol-free activities to provide alternatives to drinking during the year's heaviest "party" times on campus (such as spring break and the day between the last day of classes and the beginning of final exams). The program also plans to bring influential speakers to campus, improve the Wellness Center's resource library and develop a student-athlete handbook.

Responsible Choices/Life Choices
University of Memphis

The primary goal of the Responsible Choices/Life Choices program is to educate students about the importance of legal and responsible drinking behavior. A second goal is to provide intervention for and prevention of alcohol-abuse problems.

The program will feature training of coaches through a seminar focusing on the importance of their involvement, commitment and modeling; training of student-athletes in strategies for coping with factors that influence decisions about alcohol use; and intervention through (1) group counseling for students identified as having problems with alcohol and (2) formation of volunteer peer/mentor teams of athletes.

Choices for the Future
MacMurray College

This program will provide the first long-term activities addressing alcohol awareness and education at this institution of approximately 700 students.

Choices for the Future will focus on four major areas: (1) increasing all students' awareness of issues surrounding alcohol use and abuse; (2) development of an educational program for athletics teams that trains a peer leader for each team; (3) creation of an intervention program for students identified as having a problem with alcohol; and (4) establishment of a campus group to plan and implement ideas aimed at having an effect on college students' abuse of alcohol.

Athletes for Healthy Choices
Mount St. Mary College (New York)

The primary goal of Athletes for Healthy Choices is to eliminate illegal and high-risk use of alcohol in the campus community while promoting a positive learning and social environment.

The institution will publicize results of an alcohol/drug-use survey on campus; train athlete/team leaders in leadership and speaking skills; enable athlete/team leaders to provide educational and awareness programs on campus and in the community; provide workshops for all athletes; promote the program through publicity and various activities; and establish coordination of efforts among departments and organizations.

You Know, There Is A Choice!
University of Nebraska, Omaha

The name of the school's program comes from the acronym commonly used by students, faculty and staff at the school -- UNO.

Students, staff, faculty, athletes and coaches will cooperate in the production of four 30-second public-service videos featuring messages encouraging responsible alcohol use. The clips will become part of an "Introduction to Psychology" class that is taught exclusively by video on campus and through public television. Scripts, logos and slogans used in the clips will be chosen in a campuswide competition among Nebraska-Omaha students. Video and audio clips also will be provided to local television and radio stations.

Exercising Your Choices
New York University

On the assumption that coaches and team captains are in a position to influence the thinking and behavior of student-athletes regarding alcohol use, those individuals will participate in training that will provide information on alcohol and its effects, reasons athletes use and abuse alcohol, intervention techniques, and strategies for overcoming peer pressure.

The program also will feature a series of educational events, nearly all in conjunction with programs scheduled in the school's recreation center. Plans call for, among other events, a fall Club Fair directed at students who use the center and an athletics fashion show during the spring Carnival Extravaganza.

Responsible Choices
Northern Arizona University

The Responsible Choices program will use social theater as the medium for its message of alcohol education and abuse prevention.

A repertory theater presentation for campus groups and area high schools will feature four 15-minutes vignettes focusing on alcohol abuse, date rape, depression/suicide and anorexia/bulimia. Following the performances, participating student-athletes will lead discussions of the issues raised in the vignettes. Plans call for 40 such "peer theater" presentations to be produced during the 1996-97 academic year, involving 25 Northern Arizona student-athletes. The university's theater department will create the vignettes for performance.

PEP Choices
Northern Kentucky University

PEP (Peers Educating Peers) Choices seeks to provide -- through athletes serving as peer educators -- primary abuse-prevention education in the form of classroom presentations and campuswide programs.

The program will provide education in freshman orientation classes during the fall semester, then target community middle and high-school students during the spring semester. Physiological effects of alcohol use on the body and "binge drinking" will be among the subjects of these educational sessions. The peer educators also will be trained to provide special programming for athlete, Greek, and male and female groups on campus.

RAM Choices
University of Rhode Island

RAM (Responsible Alcohol Management) Choices will focus on creating greater visibility for existing campus abuse-prevention resources and on boosting attendance at alcohol-education workshops and programs. The program aggressively will recruit peer educators and will use student-athletes in public-service announcements and public relations efforts.

The school also will enhance a newly enacted drug-testing policy by providing training for coaches and athletics staff members, thus enabling them to better identify alcohol-related problems among student-athletes and make referrals for assistance when appropriate.

Voicing Choices
Salem State College

Voicing Choices is a cooperative initiative of several departments at Salem State that will seek to certify student-athletes as peer educators in BACCHUS and GAMMA's Certified Peer Educator Program.

The program also will produce a training video aimed at high-school and college students. The video, using student-athletes and theater majors, will focus on how to effectively confront peers, family members or others regarding alcohol use. The video's title, "An Elephant in the Locker Room," reflects the fact that people around an individual who abuses alcohol are as aware of the effects of that abuse as they would be of an elephant in the room.

Choices For DAWGS
University of Washington

The program will provide student-athletes with three opportunities to learn how to make responsible choices about alcohol use and to understand how their choices affect themselves and the university community. Those opportunities are (1) a seminar scheduled in conjunction with freshman student-athlete orientation; (2) participation in the development of a video for middle-school youth, in which student-athletes will be portrayed as role models; and (3) a life skills seminar involving athletes and coaches that will focus on reducing risks associated with drinking.

Choices for DAWGS also will feature community-outreach and public-awareness components.