RYAN HAGEN
News Assistant
The Counseling Center will begin accepting applications tomorrow for its new, student-led education program.
The program will allow students to creatively present information on the topics of alcohol, drugs and sexual violence to their peers, according to Alcohol Education Coordinator Robert Scholz.
“Students will hold booths outside the Caf, talk with residence halls and fraternities and hold special events,” he said. “We want to correct misconceptions about these issues, and research has shown students listen much better to other students.”
Scholz and senior Katie Dysert, alcohol education intern , have been working since spring 2006 to develop the program.
Dysert stressed that the peer education program, known as Peers Educating Peers for Healthy Choices or simply PEP, will only try to educate and build relationships — not provide therapy.
“Through these relationships, PEP aims to help educate students so that they can make healthy choices,” Dysert said in an e-mail.
Similar programs exist at more than 1,000 college campuses in the United States, with some covering most aspects of student life. Pepperdine will focus on only alcohol, drug and sexual violence issues until the program is more established.
Scholz said he has received one e-mail from an interested student so far and hopes to accept four or more peer educators. Any year or major is welcome, but students must commit to at least one year with the program.
Applicants will be formally interviewed before being accepted. They will then spend several hours a week for six to eight weeks learning about alcohol, drugs and sexual violence and how to effectively present this information to students.
“Students will be trained to be professional, respect confidentiality and know when to refer the case to a professional,” Scholz said. “But we’ll fail if students aren’t willing to walk what they’re saying.”
Students, who have been rigorously trained, will be in charge of designing and delivering the message.
“We always have a lot more success when students talk, no matter how neutral [adult counselors] try to be,” said Counseling Center Director Connie Horton. “There’s a lot of reason to believe this type of program will be effective.”
Success is hard to prove since no study has looked conclusively into the issue.
Pepperdine athletes and many other students anonymously enter their average alcohol consumption into a program called E-Chug, which reports that 54 percent of Pepperdine students “do not drink at all during a typical week.” E-Chug suggests that peer education programs are effective.
One reason many drug and sexual violence education attempts fail is that they never actually connect with students, according to Scholz.
“Our peer educators won’t be ‘holier-than-thou,’” he said. “They won’t tell you not to drink. They’ll just tell you the facts.”
Scholz and Dysert said a major goal is to open discussion on these issues, about which students are often misinformed. Most overestimate the prevalence of drinking and other drug use, for example, and underestimate the seriousness of their own drinking.
After spending a semester “ramping up,” Dysert said she’s excited to give students an opportunity to put classroom knowledge into practice.
Applications are due Feb. 15, and Dysert said she is planning to hold the first event in the fall of 2000.
“If we reach one or two students who are having problems and get them help, great,” said Scholz.
01-25-2007
