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By Lisa W. Foderaro
March 25, 2004
SUFFERN, N.Y. - It was only two and a half years ago that a popular senior girl who starred in lacrosse and field hockey at Suffern High School was killed after the convertible she was riding in flipped over.
Like so many fatal accidents involving teenagers, alcohol played a role. The girl, Emily Bushkin, and her friends had started drinking early in the morning on the day of the school's annual pep rally. The death left the student body stunned, and for a while, students said, behavior seemed to change. But not for long.
Now, school officials here have signed on to have their high school be among the first five in the country to try a new online alcohol-prevention program that a company developed in collaboration with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. A college-level course designed by the company, Outside the Classroom, is already used by 385 colleges.
The course here, AlcoholEdu for High School, is an experiment in bringing the same message to much younger teenagers. Students are split on how well it can succeed.
Some praised the program for being engaging and lively, but most said they doubted it would sway students who were already drinking. "Teenagers are so rebellious that they don't care about the facts," said Julie Reimer, 14.
Other students said they were struck (and a bit scared) by some of the information. "I didn't know that blackouts could be so severe and that you could have unprotected sex and you could die from it," said Ryan Scharf, 15.
Joseph Rudnick, one of a handful of seniors whom school officials asked to take the course and offer reactions, said it was a valuable extra step in prevention. "No one can take you by the hand and slap your wrist when you grab a beer," he said. "But you can give them knowledge and decision-making skills. That's all that we can do."
Outside the Classroom, which is in Newton, Mass., designed the program in collaboration with MADD.
The 300-member freshman class here is now going through the program, an interactive presentation that tries to impart information through photographs, statistics and charts. Students learn about everything from the effects of alcohol on the brain to the amount of money spent on alcohol-related advertising.
Until now, students were instructed in the risks of alcohol in eighth grade and then usually not again until 11th or 12th grade. "That's a big gap," said Patrick Faherty, the principal. "If you wait until the 11th grade, the horse is out of the barn."
The course is given in three 30-minute sections, with students sitting at individual computer terminals, wearing headsets. Students are asked to respond to questions on their own behavior and on the material from the course.
The responses to questions are confidential but will give school officials a read on students' experiences and attitudes relating to alcohol.
The designers of the program feel strongly that all students in a grade or school take the course, not just those who run into trouble with alcohol. The thinking is that only then will the program be reinforced with discussion. (Parents of four students at Suffern High School chose to let their children "opt out" of the course.)
Schools in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas are also participating in the pilot program.Here, as elsewhere, students are no strangers to alcohol.
In interviews, a group of students, mostly freshmen, described regular house parties flowing with beer and hard alcohol that is typically obtained with fake ID's.
None in the group said that they themselves drank alcohol, but they estimated that at least half the freshmen class did.
Suffern High School learned of the program from Paul D. Folkemer, a resident here who is an assistant superintendent in the Scarsdale Public Schools in Westchester County. Mr. Folkemer used to be a middle school principal in Suffern and is on the national board of directors of MADD.
He called the fatal crash here a "horrible moment" for everyone in the district. Not every school has a death traced to under-age drinking, he said, but most districts have painful episodes. Scarsdale was in the news in 2002 when scores of students were falling-down drunk at a homecoming dance, and five were hospitalized.
"Those of us who spend our lives with children understand how big a deal this is," Mr. Folkemer said. "Under-age drinking is a problem the country needs to face up to."
Copyright © 2004 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with permission.
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