Step Up! to the Challenge of Making a Difference

Thursday, April 4, 2013 @ 12:30 p.m. (Common Hour)

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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.
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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.
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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.