Hannah DeAngelis, Colby College, Class of 2012

11/4/2009

2009 Essay Runner Up

Last night I took an International Relations midterm with my neighbor in my dorm, and tonight I'm watching him play beer pong with increasingly less aim. All week he's been up far past midnight studying the Marshall Plan and the dynamics of the bipolar system, but tonight at midnight he won't be able to tell me who Stalin is. There is more than one effect this transition from studying to partying will have on my friend.

First, sleep is hard to come by at a school where all night studying sessions all week blend into all night parties all weekend. The work hard party hard mentality seems embedded into campus life. Even those who never touched alcohol in high school suddenly seem so pushed to their brain capacity during the week the only way to release stress is through losing their minds on the weekends.

Second comes the Sunday morning after where students try to overcome hangovers in order to do their homework. Nobody really looks each other in the eye in the dining hall at brunch because they have no idea who saw them do what last night. Students compare drunken stories and complain about the enormous amount of work they didn't do. This Sunday morning coma does not help the feverish studying that occurs later in the day. Calculus doesn't penetrate your brain when your head is pounding it out the other side the morning after. Work hard, party hard, and then try to work with a blinding headache and three hours of sleep.

So why do hardworking, A student college kids drink?

College is scary, especially for freshmen. We arrive knowing absolutely no one. We all just left high school where we were at the top of the pile and then suddenly at college we don't know the rules of social life at all. We're desperately searching for common ground so we can push past that awkward phase.

Alcohol provides a foot hole to push off from. Bonds are made over a game of beer pong with our neighbor. Miss steps in conversation can be blamed on a few too many shots. Words come easily and nervousness washes down our throats with each drink. There are all kinds of footholds at a party, a whole flat landing pad. Phones fill up with new numbers; and we recognize new faces the next day around campus. A lot of times we don't remember the names that go with the face. And a lot of times the only topic of conversation we have to talk about with our new friend is that neither of us really remembers the night before.

But "Hellos" and people to eat lunch with are all scared freshmen can hope for the first few weeks on campus. Smiling faces make a big difference while we're trying desperately to fit in somewhere. The problem is that the norm of meeting and creating connections on drunk weekends starts right in the beginning and continues on through the semester. Going out on weekends immediately means going to a party. And so the culture begins. Going out in high school meant going to the movies maybe going out to dinner at Applebee's. Sometimes going out even meant going to a gravel pit with a six-pack and getting drunk. Going out in college leaves no room for question. Going out means coming in stumbling.

The working hard, drinking hard culture is hard to avoid because this social insecurity is a reoccurring problem where the easiest solution seems to be alcohol. The biggest illusion of drinking is that the short-term fix of having drinking buddies is a long-term solution for making real friends. Student's closest friends are their team members, club members, dorm buddies, and classmates. Drinking friends are transient, and this is the first reason to begin to change the culture.

A movement has already started. Not all college students drink every weekend. There are always other alternatives and some students do take advantage of them. Yet this kind of going against the grain takes courage and will not make a dent unless the entire culture changes. We need a sober revolution to really shake up drinking habits in college. Getting drunk is fun because friends are made quickly, dancing happens frequently, and laughter is in no short supply. We used to know how to do all of these things without a second thought when we were younger and I think it is absolutely possible to recapture that energy.

Start at avalanche of change by choosing to go out to the movies instead of out with a beer. Play actual ping-pong instead of beer pong; wake up early to hike instead of late with a hangover.

We are a generation that cares and can create tangible change. We showed up in record numbers to vote in this past election and the results changed American history. "Green" initiatives are springing up on campuses all across the country and the green revolution is proving that every little bit counts towards a healthier earth. In the same way, every student choosing to go out and not drink counts towards creating a chem.-free culture. Change takes time, patience and most of all persistency. At a college where students pull all nighters to study for exams, we certainly having the stamina to turn hard work into results.