Caitlin Hoffman | Staff Writer

B.E.E.R Week, or Beavers Educating Everyone Responsibly week, was created with the intention of informing students rather than reprimanding them. The senators wanted students to know the consequences of drinking too much and ultimately give them tips on how to drink responsibly instead. We created these events because of the recent and alarming amounts of alcohol overdose on campus. We truly believe that educating students is vital to making changes to our campus culture.

The event began with a goodie bag handout (candy and drink coasters which allow you to test your drinks). We didn’t have the greatest turnout we could have asked for. We were placed in a bad location in Dows where there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic. We managed to hand out quite a few bags but not nearly close enough to our goal of 250 bags. We still managed to get the word out and continued to be optimistic that turnout would increase as the week went by.

Our second event, an alcohol awareness Sawtooth event, was phenomenal. We couldn’t ask for better performers who give everything to their shows. I was amazed by their ability to take learning to a new level and make it fun. We had a blast watching them perform and walked away with a renewed understanding of what alcohol can do to us. Again, the turnout here was not what I would have liked it to be.

On Wednesday, we had a mocktail party in Grand that came out of a partnership with Residence Life. This event was perfectly executed! Residence life had fun with different non-alcoholic cocktail making and even used skittles as the date rape drug to make people more aware of their surroundings and how easily they can be taken advantage of. The turnout here was a little bit stronger, but I would have liked to see more students come out and learn!

On Thursday, we had an impromptu performance in Dows. Two senators walked in the ballroom as drunken characters, and students honestly believed that they were intoxicated. As one got progressively worse, we paused the whole thing and began a small performance teaching students about the effects of drinking too much. Some students were great in listening and reacting, while others were talking over us and being discourteous. This event was incredibly powerful, and it would have been nice to have students pay attention and hear what was said… it could have made a strong impact.

We ended the week with the Rec Center being open. This event was to help us see if having it open for later hours on weekends would be beneficial to students. Again, the turnout wasn’t what we would have liked.

Though the turnout wasn’t ideal, we did feel that we made an impact. Students had the oppurtunity to have their peers educate them which opened their eyes to some of the issues around campus. Student Senate looks forward to continuing this event annually and are welcome to suggestions, ideas, and advice on what we could do to make it more effective. To all those who came out and learned about alcohol awareness: Thank you!

Graphic by Aaron Burns