The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- May 24, 1999

CHOICES program grants awarded to 10 NCAA schools

Student-athletes are integrally involved in all of the 10 programs at NCAA institutions selected this year to receive CHOICES program grants.

The grants, totaling nearly $300,000, bring to 87 the number of grants awarded since the CHOICES program began in 1991.

Approximately $1.4 million has been awarded to institutions since then.

This is the second year that grants have been extended on a three-year basis. The amount of the grants decreases from $15,000 the first year to $10,000 the second year and $5,000 the third year. The approach is designed to encourage the institution to assume greater responsibility for maintaining the program.

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.

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 continue to be of concern to program administrators.

The NCAA Foundation awards 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. All of the 10 newly 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.

Many of the programs also feature such elements as media campaigns, community outreach and events offering alternatives to alcohol use. All of the programs have characteris-tics that have been common in CHOICES. They are campus-wide in focus and are built around athletics events, activities and/or personalities. All also emphasize, in some way, the choices students must make about alcohol use.

Recipients of the latest CHOICES grants (and the amounts of the grants) are Bates College ($30,000); Benedictine University (Illinois) ($30,000); Boston University ($30,000); California State University, Northridge ($30,000); Colgate University ($26,600); Emory University ($30,000); Franklin & Marshall College ($30,000); Georgia Institute of Technology ($28,000); the University of North Florida ($29,284); and Stanford University ($28,787).

Application forms for CHOICES grants to be awarded in 2000 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 February 2000. The 10 newly funded CHOICES programs are described on pages 11 and 12.

Athletes for Healthy CHOICES

Bates College

The CHOICES program at Bates uses student-athlete leaders (team captains and influential upperclassmen) as peer educators. Those leaders will challenge substance abuse and aggressive behavior through peer-education and social marketing initiatives targeted at first-year students.

Vehicles for program delivery include an expanded intramurals program for first-year students to provide recreational alternatives to alcohol use and structured activities within existing sports team networks. In both venues, this program empowers student-athletes to exert collective leadership to help first-year college students to change social norms relative to alcohol use that give license to drink excessively.

Program objectives include (1) providing opportunities for first-year students to recognize the health, legal and social implications of alcohol abuse through participation in organized sports and alcohol-education programs; (2) promoting intramurals as a viable leisure and social option for first-year students, especially on weekend days and weekday evenings; (3) integrating alcohol education into sports team activities through peer-education efforts; and (4) providing an opportunity for interested student-athletes to exercise leadership on issues pertaining to alcohol abuse.

CHOICES for a Balanced Life

Benedictine University (Illinois)

Benedictine has developed this particular program to emphasize the value of a balanced life -- one that encourages students to make responsible, healthy, legal and appropriate choices regarding the use of alcohol.

The program in its first year will focus on the education of student-athletes through the Captain's Program, a roundtable composed of two captains and the head coach from each of the school's 18 varsity teams. A major objective of the program is to reach freshman students from the minute they reach campus. Toward that end, the CHOICES program will be part of the freshman orientation program and will include peer-led discussion groups and an alcohol-free social event that demonstrates that responsible choices regarding alcohol also can be fun.

During the program's second and third years, the captains and their team members will communicate the CHOICES for a Balanced Life program message to the campus community through a series of educational programs, peer forums and alcohol-free social events. The program also will expand to reach local elementary and secondary schools that participate in the university's athletics outreach program.

Voices for CHOICESBoston University

Voices for CHOICES is a student-driven program designed to train student-athletes as peer educators who spread messages about alcohol abuse to the campus and the greater Boston communities.

The program's goal is to encourage students under the age of 21 to abstain from alcohol use and, for students 21 years of age and older, to make responsible, informed choices about alcohol use.

Objectives include implementation of interactive training for student-athlete mentors; making presentations to athletics teams, first-year student-athletes, fraternities and sororities, residence-hall students and high-school students; distributing educational materials and promotional items; and encouraging students in particular to enhance their health and well-being through organized involvement with physical education, recreation and dance activities.

The program is predicated on the assumption that for cultural change to occur, members must first look within their group to identify issues and resolutions, then reach out to their immediate community, and finally to the greater community to instigate change.

G.A.T.E. CHOICES

Colgate University

Colgate (also known by many as 'Gate) has established a CHOICES model that will provide peer education training for several student-athlete leaders who will then assist athletics teams in providing a regularly scheduled alcohol-education program for the entire student body through a monthly on-campus social alternative known as G.A.T.E. CHOICES Activity Night.

The Activity Night programs will serve to enlighten and positively affect student attitudes about the risks involved with excessive and often illegal consumption of alcohol.

Student-athlete leaders, including representatives from every intercollegiate athletics team, will be trained by the school's counseling center as alcohol peer educators.

The training will occur at various times during the academic year in order to reach student-athletes outside of their competitive seasons.

Activity Nights will be designed by student-athletes from various teams and will include educational sessions, speakers, speakouts, panel discussion, small interactive group techniques, skits and role-playing, and other entertainment. A year-long contest will determine which teams had the most successful impact.

Informed Matadors Make Responsible CHOICES

California State University, Northridge

Cal State Northridge's CHOICES program builds on the success of an existing student-run, campus-wide substance-abuse awareness and prevention-education program for all Cal State Northridge students.

In order to reduce the negative consequences for university students that result from the illegal use and/or misuse of alcohol, the program will place a particular emphasis on reducing high-risk behaviors associated with the misuse of alcohol (for example, binge drinking, drinking and driving, and drinking and violence).

The need for the program is supported by recent campus survey data that indicate that Cal State Northridge student-athletes engage in these high-risk drinking behaviors more frequently that the regular student body.

Central to the program's success are three components, including a student-athlete peer-mentor program, a mandatory athletics department orientation program for all new student-athletes, and the establishment of entertaining alcohol-free events held specifically for student-athletes.

Making Winning CHOICES

Emory University (Oxford College)

Emory's Oxford College, located just east of Atlanta, houses 650 freshman and sophomore students who continue into their junior and senior years at the Emory campus. Because the college is in the beginning of its junior-varsity level competition, the CHOICES program was developed to provide proactive and guiding traditions so that athletes and athletics are integrated into the mission of the institution.

The program contains three phases that emphasize student-athletes and their commitment to fitness, sports, team expectations and peer support for low-risk choices. Athletes will receive special training and information about alcohol use as a detriment to performance as well as the legal and campus judicial risks involved. Support for appropriate choices and even celebration for exemplary role models will be included, as well as clear limit-setting and imposed sanctions when necessary.

The second phase will feature efforts expanded to include the entire campus with programs and initiatives planned to encompass students, faculty and staff. The final phase seeks ways to share these programs, student mentors and resources with youths in the surrounding community.

MC2 = Making Challenging CHOICES

Franklin & Marshall College

The Making Challenging CHOICES program was developed by 39 students from a range of campus organizations and athletics teams. Building upon alcohol prevention, intervention initiatives and student leadership, the three-pronged purpose of the program is to promote an awareness of the array of choices students have, to educate students regarding campus norms and the potential consequences associated with alcohol abuse, and to increase the number of late-night recreational activities that are alcohol-free.

Components of the program include promotional, educational and social activities. A kick-off retreat will be conducted in the fall of 1999 for program implementation members to establish expectations for the group, discuss leadership skills, explore environmental management approaches to prevention and begin planning for the events scheduled for the year.

The program will encourage students to make positive choices in their lives and be better equipped to serve as role models. Over the period of the grant, the goal of the program is to increase the number of students participating in the MC2 planning committee.

There Are Always CHOICES

Georgia Institute of Technology

The goal of the CHOICES program at Georgia Tech is to develop and implement a series of educational and promotional activities that will be conducted by teams of student peer leaders made up of represen-tatives from the school's Student-Athlete Mentor program and the Georgia Tech Wellness Center's Health Advocate program. These activities will be carried out during varsity sporting events and on a continual basis throughout campus residence halls, fraternities, sororities and various student organizations.

During the first year of the program, baseline data will be collected on student-athletes' drinking behaviors and their perceptions of campus drinking norms. The data will be compared to the existing data for the general student body.

In subsequent years, peer education teams will provide Alcohol 101 classes on a biweekly basis to identified student groups and intercollegiate athletics teams. It is expected that the program will show a significant change in the perception about high-risk drinking on campus as well as a decrease in the prevalence of high-risk drinking episodes.

Realite acute CHOICES

University of North Florida

North Florida's CHOICES program is a student-athlete mentoring program designed to provide innovative alcohol education and prevention.

Fourteen student-athletes will combine with an existing peer-education team to receive specialized training in all aspects of alcohol use and abuse prevention, social marketing, communication skills and the responsibilities of being an effective peer educator.

The CHOICES team will be actively involved in developing and implementing its presentations to North Florida students and the surrounding community.

Student-athletes will be empowered as mentors to lead the program with the ultimate goal of changing the campus climate so that responsible alcohol use becomes the accepted norm.

The program also will use ongoing evaluations to review the extent of the program's impact on various university student groups, including campus residents, fraternity and sorority members, student-athletes and other students.

Cardinal Life CHOICES

Stanford University

Based on an existing peer health education model, Stanford's Cardinal Life CHOICES is designed to create a campus environment that encourages students to make alcohol-related choices that are legal, healthy, appropriate and safe.

The program will appoint 20 student-athletes to serve as CHOICES peer educators for their teams, which -- in conjunction with Stanford's existing peer health program -- will enable the school to reach about 5,000 undergraduates per academic year.

The program will employ a comprehensive approach to changing the campus culture via social marketing, targeted Internet information and major campus events.

Athletes and peer health educators will serve as role models, presenters and mentors and will help design program content and delivery of behavior-change strategies.

The program also will be reviewed by Stanford's Alcohol Advisory Board, ensuring that the necessary institutional links are in place to support and promote students to make healthy and safe choices related to alcohol use.