I live in Rhoads Hall at Slippery Rock University and this past semester there have been numerous drug busts in the resident halls. I happen to know one of the dealers, Cody McAvoy, as my neighbor. One idea I had was to interview him and ask how he got involved with drug dealing and how he managed his business out of his traditional sized dorm room. Along with his interviews, I would take pictures of his room and where he stored the drugs throughout the semester, and then I would also interview a police officer to find out how drug cases are handled and what are the proper protocols.
Option #2
My other choice is to interview a freshman dance major, Michelle Russ, who this semester was awarded one of two scholarships in the United States to spend the summer studying dance at the University of Hawaii. This girl lives, breathes, and loves dance, so I would ask her questions about the trip to Hawaii and what all she is hoping to learn. I would also ask her how she became interested in dancing and what hardships has she faced throughout the years before getting this opportunity at Slippery Rock University.
Earth Day 2013 at the Slippery Rock University campus was not a day, but two weeks of events, like a film festival, a carnival, a TOMs Awareness Walk, and even a competition called Canned Castles. SRU has been celebrating Earth Day since the year 1990, but this is the first year it was a campus wide, two week event. While the main focus was on Earth Day and sustainability many campus organizations and sponsors joined to help create the festivities.
The schedule for Slippery Rock University's annual Earth Day celebration.
Earth Day is a day that is celebrated every year, but is often ignored by the general student population except those who truly have a passion for sustainablility and going green. To stop those from ignoring the day and stopping the spread of sustainability, Slippery Rock University has created a week and a half worth of events that are taking place all over campus and focus on different parts of the environment.
The program Meograph has the ability to combine text, pictures, and videos, but what makes this program different from all the other programs out there is a feature that includes maps. This feature can be used with Earth Day Week on the SRU campus because all the events are happening at different locations around campus and not just on one day. I would start with researching the beginning of Earth Day, and then try and get into contact with either the CSIL office or the Office of Sustainability to figure out when Slippery Rock began celebrating Earth Day in such an elaborate way, and then to finish off I would attend 2 or 3 events and report the goings on and interview some people who are involved.
Throughout the week events include an Environmental Film Festival from Monday, April 15 to Thursday, April 18, lectures ranging from sustainability to forest destruction, A "One Day Without Shoes" Awareness Walk on April 16, an Earth Day Carnival on Tuesday, April 23, and many more. There is an event for everyone, something for those who are movie buffs, for those who enjoy going to lectures, for those who want to take a stand and raise awareness, and lastly something that can be done with a large group of friends.
Also this is an event that many students and faculty support and participate in, and many do not know very much about the line up of events. This is the perfect chance to showcase what many organizations have put together for students to promote a good cause while still having a good time.
On Thursday, April 4, during common hour, Slippery Rock University's HOPE Peer Mentors kicked off the Step Up! Bystander Intervention Program with the Alcohol
Addition. A small group of students came to the event and left with not only a
Step Up! T-shirt, but also useful knowledge about helping themselves and others
safely consume alcohol.
The event started when three Peer Mentors
introduced themselves as junior, public health and professional studies major,
Chloe Ruot, 21, junior, health and physical education major, Coleen Lugar, 20,
and junior public health major, Nick Jones, 20. They then jumped right in to
talking about scenarios and asking us the all-important question: What would
you do if you were in that situation? This point was proven even more so when
we watched a clip of the ABC show What Would You Do?
Video found on YouTube, posted by greenclips. This clip of What Would You Do? was shown at the beginning of the event to see the audience's initial reactions and spark a discussion.
According to Junior, Mary Leach, 20, in response to the
video, “I put that scenario at popular party spots in Slippery Rock, and
thought that we will never have a parental figure at the Heights with us, it
all depends on students.”
When the clip was finished the event became mostly
discussion based, with the audience discussing what they would do if they were
taking one of their friends out who just turned 21 and had never had a drink,
if they found out that their designated driver was drinking, and what to do if
a drunk host of a party was asked to drive and purchase more beer. Some of
these scenarios were answered with long drawn out answers from multiple members
of the audience, while others were simple such as, “Don’t let anyone get in the
car.”
Peer Mentors, Chloe Ruot and Nick Jones share with
the audience what a standard drink size is.
(picture)
Some other basic information that was presented included some
strategies that would help student’s help each other know when too much is
finally too much. Some strategies include creating a drink limit before going
out, switching to drinking non-alcoholic drinks when you feel you have reached
your limit, never feel like you have to drink every time you go out, make sure
to have a designated driver or even be the DD, and many other strategies.
“Another strategy is to only bring a certain amount of cash
to the bar and when you have spent all the cash, know that you can no longer
buy anymore drinks,” advised Health Coordinator, Renee Bateman.
Lastly they covered what students should do if they see
someone showing signs of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is a serious
matter that should not be taken lightly, symptoms include turning ashy and
blue, vomiting, and suffering from confusion. When seeing someone it is best to
turn them over on their side so they do not choke on their own vomit, call the
police for emergency medical service, and never leave them alone.
“So if you are at a party and someone has alcohol poisoning
and your friends are leaving, it’s one of those awkward situations when you
have to choose, please choose to stay with them [person with alcohol poisoning],
and get the help that they need,” explained Peer Mentor, Nick Jones,
20.
Overall The Step Up! Bystander Intervention program is a
helpful program to SRU students that provides knowledge about not only about safely
consuming alcohol, but the next event is going to focus on sexual assault with
college students on April 18 during common hour.
The intimate audience listens intently and participates
in the numerous discussions.
(picture)
Health Coordinator, Renee Bateman, discusses why she feels that this program is important for Slippery Rock students, and junior, Mary Leach explains how she will use what she learned at the event in her everyday life.
