In an effort to promote alcohol awareness, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative will hold its 3rd annual Alcohol Summit this Friday and Saturday. Friday’s activities are geared toward students and include several sessions that will run with the academic schedule. The ADAI coordinator, Rosanne Keathley, wants as many students as possible to attend.
“A lot of students come to campus and are under the impression that they are supposed to drink when in reality less than 27% of students at SHSU consume alcohol on a regular basis,” said Keathley.
Parents who will be here for Bearkat Family Weekend are invited to attend Saturday’s activities. One of the speakers on Saturday will be the parents and sister of Jack Phoummarath, a former student at the University of Texas who died from alcohol poisoning in 2005 during a fraternity hazing event.
“This is the first time his family has spoken at a university and hope this creates awareness about the risk of alcohol,” said Keathley.
Another speaker, Erica Upshaw, will talk about her life as a college student and her brother who lost his life to alcohol and drugs.
This event’s theme is “Rise Above the Influence” and is meant to give students facts about alcohol and drugs, let them know what resources are available to the community and help prevent any kind of alcohol or drug incident.
“We hope to improve students’ attitudes which could ultimately lead to healthy lifestyle choices,” said Keathley.
Students can register at http://www.shsu.edu/~org_aai/ and will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the Alcohol Summit. “This will be the most informative summit that we have ever planned and it will be a great start,” Keathley said.