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Oglethorpe Awarded NCAA CHOICES Grant for Alcohol Education

The $30,000 grant will pay for alcohol education awareness initiatives

Oglethorpe University’s Counseling Center has partnered with the NCAA CHOICES Grant Program to promote alcohol education and combat the misuse of alcohol by college students. The three-year, $30,000 CHOICES grant covers the academic years 2010-2011 through 2012-2013 and will involve student-athletes in campus-wide alcohol education initiatives to prevent alcohol abuse.

Oglethorpe understands the importance of peer education and recognizes that messaging about safe, healthy, and responsible choices regarding drinking will be received best if it comes directly from fellow students.  The Oglethorpe CHOICES program, titled “Life Choices,” will partner athletes with the OU Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention and Education Coalition, and with campus organizations such as Students Motivating Action Supporting Health (SMASH), that actively promote student leadership, peer education, and activism on health and safety issues.  Together they will educate the community about the levels of actual alcohol use on campus. 

“We truly will be creating an invested group of allies for alcohol education and awareness initiatives,” said Leanne Henry-Miller, director of Oglethorpe University’s Counseling Center.  The 2010 Core Alcohol and Other Drug Survey, administered at Oglethorpe University, showed that perceptions about the amount of drug and alcohol use on the school’s campus were far greater than actual use. 

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“It is important that we bring to life the statistics from the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey and include them in the programs we offer,” said Henry-Miller.  At the end of the three-year grant cycle, the goal is to have an overall reduction in dangerous behaviors such as binge drinking and an increase in student awareness of alcohol-related issues.

Oglethorpe University Department of Athletics contributed this report.

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