FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JULY 24, 2008 

SMC Freshmen To Participate In AlcoholEdu Program
Online Program Designed To Educate, Increase Students’ Alcohol Awareness  

SPARTANBURG, SC – Freshmen at Spartanburg Methodist College will be participating in a new educational program this fall designed to promote alcohol awareness and prevention. 

As part of the College’s alcohol prevention program, all freshmen will be required to participate in AlcoholEdu For College, an online alcohol education course. 

The program will be funded for two years through grants totaling $21,500, provided by the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare Foundation and the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, along with supplemental funding by the College. 

“This is the premier alcohol education program available in the United States at the moment. It is recognized by many other institutions as the most effective, and it is respected by our colleagues. This type of program helps give students a better idea as to what is real and should change their expectations, and therefore change their behavior,” says SMC Dean of Students Art Hartzog 

According to OutsideTheClassroom, Inc.’s web site, the company which administers AlcoholEdu, it  “…is the only program of its kind that was designed for population-level, primary prevention. Its personalized approach provides an experience that impacts both individual behavior and campus culture, reducing your institutional risk.”  

More than 400,000 college students participate in AlcoholEdu each year at more than 500 higher education institutions nationwide. 

Several South Carolina colleges already participate in the program, including the College of Charleston, Coker College, Limestone College, Newberry College, and Presbyterian College.  

The course consists of two parts, both of which must be completed in order to satisfy a requirement in the College’s Freshmen SMC 101 course. 

Freshmen are required to complete part one of the program by Aug. 14. The first part is an approximately three-hour session during which students will take a pre-survey, a pre-test of their alcohol knowledge, an exam which must be passed with a minimum 75 percent score, and a post-survey.

“Because the students will complete the first part prior to when they are in the college environment, you are getting their true beliefs. After part two, we can look at how things have changed since their arrival at college,” says Stacey Mason, Director of Residence Life and administrator for SMC’s AlcoholEdu program.

Students will be required to complete part two, which includes updated alcohol information, a video, and a final survey, by Oct. 10. 

“The program will customize itself based on the demographics and the answers that the student enters. It guides students through responsible decision making and intervention techniques that they can utilize with their friends. It will reach out to any age, any gender, and any attitude toward drinking,” says Mason. 

Individual information entered into the online program will not be seen by College faculty or staff, however the data will be compiled into cumulative result. Administrators will receive reports about just the SMC population, with comparisons available to national or state-level results. 

The data will also be used from year to year to determine the effectiveness of the course, in conjunction with surveys and statistics generated annually by the College. 

“What we’re hoping is that with this being required of all incoming Freshmen, there will be conversations about it because they know their classmates and roommates are participating in the same program. We’re hoping they will engage in conversations with each other about it,” says Mason. 

“This is a more proactive approach, instead of waiting until a student gets caught with alcohol to do an education program. It will help guide us in determining what types of program and other types of education or outreach we need to do here at SMC,” she adds. 

All sophomore-level student-leaders, including ambassadors and resident assistants are taking the course this year also, so that they are familiar with the program when the freshmen arrive on campus. The program is available for any other sophomores who are interested in participating.

AlcoholEdu also offers a portal for parents, who are encouraged to take the course along with their student. The course also offers a degree of customization for each institution to incorporate its own information into the program. 

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 97th year of providing quality education to students in a Christian environment.  More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information, contact SMC AlcoholEdu administrator Stacey Mason at (864) 587-4247 or OutsideTheClassroom spokesperson Erika Tower at (781) 726-6677, extension 137.

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On the net:
AlcoholEdu program overview at OutsideTheClassroom
http://www.outsidetheclassroom.com/prodandserv/higher/alcoholEdu_college/