High School Students Win National Media Competition on Alcohol Awareness
5/28/2010
BOSTON, MA – May 28, 2010 – Outside The Classroom today announced the winners of the 2009-2010 AlcoholEdu for High School Media Competition, a national contest aimed at helping students challenge the many myths about alcohol use. Students from Stillwater High School in Stillwater, NY and Walhalla High School in Wallhala, SC were recognized for their success in creating original video advertisements that discourage underage drinking.
Today’s youth are constantly bombarded with media and advertisements that make drinking alcohol seem appealing, trendy, and the “cool” thing to do. These portrayals don’t show the risks and realities of drinking and encourage unsafe behavior. The AlcoholEdu for High School Media Competition asks students to design an original poster or video for high school students that challenges the myths about alcohol use. Students were encouraged to avoid scare tactics - images that show only the negative things that can happen from drinking – and instead focus on something positive, such as why they choose not to get involved with alcohol, and how this decision has proven to be a good one. The students’ responses were inspiring.
The Stillwater High School students created a three-segment advertisement focused on helping a student who has experienced negative consequences from alcohol find better things to do than drink. The unique video editing is highly engaging and appealing to today’s youth – while still delivering a strong message. Students were even granted permission to use music by the up-and-coming indie rock band, Dizzy Balloon. The Walhalla students created a humorous advertisement focused on the benefits of not drinking as a teenager, such as doing well in school, driving a car, playing sports -- and remembering parties. To watch the videos, go to www.outsidetheclassroom.com/mediacompetition.aspx.
The competition was hosted by Outside The Classroom, an organization committed to helping students make safe and healthy decisions about alcohol. The organization’s online alcohol prevention programs, AlcoholEdu® for College and AlcoholEdu® for High School, are used by hundreds of campuses nationwide and taken by hundreds of thousands of students each year.
Emerging national data indicates that an increasing number of students are choosing to refrain from alcohol use and are seeking activities where alcohol is not the central focus. The Monitoring the Future survey, a long-term study on drug and alcohol use in the US funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), found that drinking among 12th graders has decreased steadily every year from 1998 to 2008 – dropping by 13.2%. And in the last decade, the abstention rate among high school students has continually increased.
“More and more high school students are choosing not to drink,” said Brandon Busteed, Founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom, creators of the AlcoholEdu for High School Media Competition. “This is an incredibly positive trend and a real opportunity for us to engage these students and harness the power of the ‘responsible majority.’ The high schools that actively embrace this trend will produce the best, most engaged students -- and these students will have a distinct competitive advantage when it comes time to apply to college.”
About Outside The Classroom
For nearly a decade, Outside The Classroom has been committed to strengthening the field of alcohol prevention by providing institutional leaders and their students with the information needed to develop well-informed, cost-effective strategies for reducing alcohol-related consequences and preventing harm. Today, the organization’s flagship evidence-based programs, AlcoholEdu® for College and AlcoholEdu® for High School, are used by hundreds of campuses nationwide and taken by hundreds of thousands of students each year. All of Outside The Classroom’s programs are developed under the leadership of national prevention expert William DeJong, PhD.
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