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Students gathered to watch a drunk driving simulation
in Deglman Circle on Monday afternoon. Firefighters prepare
to rescue victims inside the crashed vehicle.
Photo by Tetona Dunlap |
Crash
into alcohol awareness
By
Tiffany Drahota
Reporter
A
week’s worth of Alcohol Awareness events crashed
Creighton’s campus and educated students about the
dangers of alcohol and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
This week is Alcohol Awareness week, sponsored by Peer
Education, Student Health Services and various other organizations
around campus. This year’s events took off with a
drunk driving simulation Monday morning followed by a guest
speaker in the evening.
Students literally received a crash course in the dangers
of drinking and driving on Monday at 12:22 p.m. in Delgman
Circle. Four students covered in fake blood were part of
a drunk driving simulation in which actual firefighters,
police officers and Public Safety responded to the accident
at one of the busiest times of the school day.
“
We chose not to advertise to the whole student body about
the time or occurrence of the simulation as we wanted it
to just happen, thus trying to preserve the shock value
and intrigue of the event,” said Kathleen McCabe,
director of Peer Education.
As the accident unfolded, shock among the witnesses and
the participants alike set in.
“
I was acting like I had a neck injury, and after a while
I did feel like I was going numb, like a self-induced shock,” said
Lexy Janda, Arts & Sciences senior, an injured victim
in the simulation. “I never want to actually live
through that; it was real.”
The firefighters pronounced Creighton graduate Sarah Naughtin
dead at the scene of the crime and pried the entire roof
off the car to rescue injured victims Mike Marshall, Arts & Sciences
sophomore, and Janda out of the vehicle. Ann Kelly, Arts & Sciences
senior, the driver of the vehicle, was asked by police
to do a number of sobriety tests. When she failed the tests,
she was cuffed and put in the police car.
The ruined vehicle was left in Deglman Circle for the remainder
of the afternoon. Drinking statistics and facts were displayed
around the car for students to read.
The simulation was followed by a speaker in the evening.
David Abraham, an accident survivor, furthered the shock
factor when he announced to students that he killed his
brother and permanently handicapped himself driving drunk.
Abraham, who at the time had a wife and worked for a Fortune
500 company, spoke to students about the choices he made
then and his life now.
Abraham spent six months in the
hospital followed by a year and a half of physical, occupational
and speech therapy. He said that his wife divorced him
and he lost his job after the accident.
“I screwed up huge,” Abraham said. “There is no excuse for
this. I expect you not to drink and drive. Period.”
Tuesday’s Alcohol Awareness event included a panel of five speakers prepared
to answer questions about Creighton Alcohol Recovery Experience.
According to Sister Annette Schmeling, associate vice president for Student Services,
CARE uses resources to provide safety for students who pose an alcohol-related
threat to themselves or the university. Five alcohol-related deaths on college
campuses around the nation have been reported this fall, and CARE has some features
that are unique to Creighton and reassuring at a time when alcohol deaths are
making headlines.
According to Tanya Winegard, assistant vice president for Student Life, 15 students
have needed alcohol-related medical attention this year. Seven students have
gone in to CARE.
The alcohol-related activities continued Wednesday afternoon during the Healthy
Health Fair. The fair featured numerous booths with everything from Jazzercise
to four four-legged friends from Paws for Friendship, Inc.
Peer education week was planned to continue with live BAC testing on the Mall
on Thursday afternoon and a Halloween Dance from 9 p.m. to midnight on Friday
in Becker Dining Hall.
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