THE BIG STORY

Shattered Lives: The Realities and Consequences of Using Alcohol in College

Mark Sterner knows all too well the reality of what happens when you get behind the wheel after a night of consuming too much alcohol. In his college keynote, DUI: A Powerful Lesson©, Mark shares the consequences that shattered not only his life, but also the lives of his four friends, Mark’s family, his friend’s families and the friendship that had bonded these young men together.

While celebrating on the last night of Spring Break during his final year of college, Mark—being the least drunk among his friends—decided to drive back to their hotel. When he woke in the hospital hours later, Mark discovered three of friends were dead, and he faced charges of manslaughter. The day before the accident, Mark would be the first in his family to go to college; after the accident, he would be the first to go to prison.

Mark’s experience, unfortunately is not an isolated one among college students. In a recent survey, an estimated 1,700 students aged 18-24 and enrolled in 2- and 4-year colleges died from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes on an annual basis.(1) These incidences occur despite decades of alcohol awareness campaigns and the efforts from organizations like Students Against Drunk Driving—now Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)—and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), both established in 1981.

“Students are coming to college with a great deal more knowledge and direct experience with alcohol than previous generations,” said Mark Sterner. 

He has spoken to more than two million students in the last decade, and he has noticed that change is happening. “Today’s students have been sheltered less from the positives and negatives of alcohol,” he said. Whereas in future generations, many students had very little experience with the realities of alcohol and drug abuse before landing on campus. Mark says students today are much more aware.

“These young people have seen so much on reality TV, they already know the most common mistakes people make under the influence,” he said. “Our celebrity culture has dished up a thousand examples of people making bad decisions.”

Perhaps that’s why Mark’s program has been one of the most featured in the country for more than a decade. In it, he describes the final night of his senior year Spring Break. He shows video the young men shot minutes before the tragic crash.

“Students appreciate real life stories, with videos and pictures. That’s the only thing that’s real to them,” Mark said. Although he speaks to thousands of students every month, he worries that messages about critical decision-making involving alcohol don’t reach every student on campus.

“I am most often speaking to fraternities and sororities, or student-athletes. I suppose that’s because it’s easy to pull those groups together, or maybe because they are identified as high risk groups,” Mark said.  “But who’s challenging the French Literature major who drinks and drives every weekend?” 

Mark believes campus educators need to reach further to get these messages out to students who don’t identify with an easily programmable student group. “All students need to consider their limits and consider that bad things can happen to anyone when poor decisions are made.”

Poor decisions and tragic consequences abound when it comes to using alcohol on college campuses. In a recent study that examined results of national coroner studies, Department of Education college enrollment data, the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), the CDC National College Health Risk Behavior Survey and the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Survey (CAS), the following data was compiled, in addition to the fatality figures mentioned above(2):

• 599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol
• More than 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking
• More than 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape
• 2.1 million students between the ages of 18 and 24 drove under the influence of alcohol last year
• 31 percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months, according to questionnaire-based self-reports about their drinking.

Click HERE for more information about Mark and his keynote.

For additional resources on alcohol awareness and curbing binge drinking on your campus visit:

College Drinking Prevention
The National College Health Assessment
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Students Against Destructive Decisions
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
The College Health Guru

(1) collegedrinkingprevention.gov website
(2) ibid