Graduation parties can be safe, sober, happy affairs
(Reprinted with permission from Hazelden ©)
The end of a high school career is a great cause for celebration, and
students who achieve this rite of passage deserve to be honored for a job
well done. Seniors eagerly look forward to the next phase of their lives
as they prepare for college or full-time jobs. Unfortunately, too many
young lives are lost instead of launched when new graduates jeopardize
their bright futures by getting into cars when they are intoxicated.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more
than half of all fatal traffic crashes on typical prom and graduation
weekends involve alcohol. Also, the NHTSA reports that motor vehicle
crashes are the leading cause of death for people 15 to 20 years old.
A recent survey by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Chrysler
Group found that 45 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds report feeling
pressure to drink and drive or ride with someone who has been drinking.
Many schools, parents and communities throughout the country are doing
their best to reverse that peer pressure and make sure that this year's
graduations will be safe and memorable experiences for everyone. The
Roseville Area High School in Roseville, Minn., has approximately 500
students in its ‘05 graduating class, and if this year is like
other years, 85 percent of its seniors will attend the all-night party
that follows the commencement ceremonies.
"There are so many different and fun activities all night long," said
Olivia Gault, one of the parent volunteers. "We have a casino, sumo
wrestling with inflatable suits, an obstacle course, and many other
attractions." Gault said that students earn fake money in the
competitions that they can exchange for prizes--an enticement that gets
more kids involved.
To keep the event affordable, Roseville parents garner support from local
businesses and organizations that donate prizes and food. They explain to
these donors that graduation and prom can be the two deadliest weekends
in a teenager's life and how they are striving to thwart those statistics
by supporting the tradition of the alcohol-free senior party. The
community's response has been generous.
Communities that want to provide safe and sober graduation parties like
Roseville's need not start from scratch in planning such an event. Many
organizations have developed extensive materials to guide them. For
example, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) has a 52-page
"All-Night Party Event Organizer" available on their Web site
(www.saddonline.com) that walks people through each stage of planning a
substance-free party, from organizing committees and working with local
law enforcement to asking for donations and sending out press releases,
letters and other announcements.
Other organizations such as the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center
offer low-cost materials that promote healthy behaviors and offer tips
for parents on why and how they can promote safe and sober graduation
parties. "Graduation is one of those milestones everyone can relate to,
and we want the memories to be happy, substance-free ones," said Kevin
Spading, the Center's project director. "Our goal is to keep accurate,
informative prevention messages in the forefront. Our prevention messages
are effective because they are comprehensive, consistent, evidence-based,
and focus-group tested."
Another effective way to deter teens from driving drunk is to have them
listen to someone whose life has been forever changed because a drunk
driver killed someone they loved. Jo Baker, the Victim Impact Coordinator
for Minnesota's MADD, recently told 300 young people about how her son
Brad was killed by a drunk driver--a former classmate of Brad's whose
picture just happened to appear on the same page of Brad's high school
yearbook.
"You could have heard a pin drop in that room," said Baker. "Every
Mother's Day Brad gave me a flower. I'll never get another rose from him.
I'll never see him come through our door or look into his beautiful eyes.
I don't want other families to experience this devastation. If I can keep
one person from getting behind a wheel drunk, I will have honored his
life."
For more information and materials on prevention, visit the MADD Web site
at www.madd.org, the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center at
www.emprc.org., or Hazelden Publishing at www.hazelden.org/bookstore.
--Published May 16, 2005
Contact:
The Legacy Group of Alcoholics Anonymous © 2005