Health Education Programming for Spring Break SSB

Every year thousands of college students participate in some type of spring break activity whether it is in a tropical climate, a ski trip, or a road trip. Due to the fact that some students engage in high-risk behaviors during this time period, it is crucial for peer educators to provide students on campus with information that will help insure that their spring break will be a success!

Safe Spring Break is a great opportunity for you to get your peers ready for all the fun of spring break while encouraging them to make positive choices for their own health as well as the safety of their friends. It is a chance for you to do what peer educators and health and wellness offices do best: being positive and supportive about healthy decisionmaking, while at the same time pointing out some of the real dangers and risks that need to be addressed.

Through the promotion of safe and sober driving, responsible decision-making, planned strategies for personal safety and avoiding high-risk drinking, we hope to reduce if not eliminate the number of injuries and deaths among college and university students during the spring break period. And, since healthy decision-making such as choosing to drive safe and sober are life skills, your efforts will save lives long after Spring Break is over.

Although the main focus may be on preventing impaired driving, you will find that our Safe Spring Break Campaign also includes information and encouragement on other health issues, such as healthy sexual decision-making, predatory drugs, and even safe sun protection! We encourage you to add some of these issues to your educational efforts as well.

Safe Spring Break—On Campus and at Resorts

Although the programming you do on campus before students leave for break is the primary focus of the
Safe Spring Break Campaign, there will also be some awareness efforts at high visibility sites in Florida and
Texas. Students who go to Panama City Beach, Florida, will see some SNAPSHOT OF A SAFE SPRING BREAK
programming sponsored by BACCHUS at welcome centers or special events.

Spring Break—A Critical Time for Positive Choices

We love spring break for simple reasons: it is usually fun, usually restful, sometimes a bit crazy, but always better than the week of tests which precedes it. Some students road trip to beaches in Florida and Texas, or ski slopes in Colorado, or even foreign destinations. We want those road trips to be as safe as possible, which is why we encourage campuses to conduct educational programs ranging from seatbelt use, to impaired driving prevention, to making sure fatigue does not set in while students are on the road.

Some students take their vacation in what is often considered a “party” environment so we want to make sure that we educate about responsible choices around alcohol, responsible choices about sexual decisions, about feeling empowered to choose not to drink or be sexually active, and knowing the risks that come with issues such as impaired driving or predatory drugs.

It is safe to say that for the vast majority of students, spring break is a fun, positive, healthy break in the school year. It’s a time to rest, relax and enjoy time with friends. Of course, it is our goal to make sure that is the case for all students, which is why we conduct this campaign every year. We want students to get the image in mind of what a Safe Spring Break looks like, so the SNAPSHOT OF A SAFE SPRING BREAK uses a photography to teach students about some of the key health risk issues and reminding them that they have the power to make responsible decisions about alcohol, impaired driving prevention, sexual decision making, personal safety, and sun exposure.

A special feature of the 2008 campaign is the new Friends for Health and Safety Photo Contest that our peer education affiliates can use to generate interest on their own campus, choose a campus winner, and then submit for a chance at $250 cash prize drawing to use for programming funds for prevention. Rules appear at http://www.bacchusnetwork.org/safe-spring-breakcampaign.asp

The winning photo will be posted on our website and may appear in the 2009 Safe Spring Break Campaign materials.