Introduction
Anna Smith is a freshman at Metropolitan Community College. She is a hard-worker and a studious student. She diligently does her homework all week long, but when it comes to Friday night, Anna wants to have fun and forget about school and the work for the weekend. She wants those two days of freedom to be herself and let loose along with any other person her age. Metropolitan Community College (MCC) should prioritize the creation of a student social group, which would benefit the students, MCC, and the community of Omaha.
Benefits for the Students
The students at MCC would greatly benefit from having a nightlife option on the weekends. Right now there is not much out there for students to participate in and be a part of at MCC. There are so many people that come and go from MCC. According to Ben Terris the author of “Transfer Students are Less Likely to take Part in ‘High Impact’ Activities,” there are three main groups of college students. Group 1 is the “vertical” students who are the people that transfer from community college to a four-year college.
Group 2 is the “horizontal” students that do not really know what they want to do so they are in between four-year colleges. Group 3 is the “native” students who have never transferred. It can be very difficult to get to know the people within the classes for horizontal, vertical, and even native students (Terris). Everyone makes relationships a different way. MCC is made up of these three groups. It is a very diverse group of students at MCC coming from all over.
An associate professor of education at Indiana University, Mr. McCormick, said, “I think a large number of horizontal transfers are changing institutions because they were not able to succeed in making good relationships at their first college” (Terris). Mainly the vertical and horizontal students think that their problems will go away if they switch colleges, but that is not the case. They want that sense of belonging and to have relationships, but they also need to put themselves out there to get to know their classmates. There would not a better way to get to know other people than to participate in a nightlife option that the college would host.
Anna is a “native” student, and when the weekend comes around she wants to enjoy it as much as she can, but how can she if there is nowhere to go and not a lot of options for her to participate in or that appeal to her. Most of the malls and stores close at nine or ten o’clock and that leaves ice skating, bowling, or the movies. The ice skating rink is full of elementary age and young high-school-age students.
The same age groups are at the bowling alley also, along with older old people as well. Movies can be expensive, almost ten dollars for one show. Since none of these options are appealing to Anna and her friends they go out and have their own fun, which causes Anna to be at risk for participating in drinking, reckless driving, or vandalism (graffiti). She is then not only a danger to herself but to other people around her with her reckless behavior.
Kapner author of the Scope of the Problem, says, “1,700 college students die from alcohol-related causes.” These are very high numbers per year and especially since a big contributor to this large number is drinking and driving. The number of people who drive under the influence has sky-rocketed. That is not safe for anyone, including the people who are driving on the road along with the people driving under the influence (Kapner).
According to Shuey author in Temple Times, the ages that contribute to these statistics the most are in the age range of 18 through 24. The younger students get the older students or people to buy the alcohol for them. This is a big factor in the misuse of alcohol among the younger ages.
“Binge drinking was defined as consuming more than five drinks in one sitting” (Shuey). The author of How Bingeing Became the New College Sport, Seaman says the ritual of binge drinking is called, “pregaming.” “In a 2005 survey, 43% of Temple students reported binge drinking in the past two weeks” (Shuey). That 43% just lowers the national average of 49% (Shuey). According to Seaman about 300 times per year students are put in the hospital from binge drinking because of the alcohol poisoning they receive from it. Kapner states:
Research indicates that while alcohol use on campus overall has remained fairly steady on a national level, the nature and extent of drinking that contributes to the overall figures can vary. For instance, data from the Harvard School of Public Health’s College Alcohol Study (CAS) demonstrate increasing polarization of drinkers, with both higher percentages of those abstaining and those frequently engaging in heavy drinking, while percentages of drinkers “in the middle”—either non–heavy drinkers or occasional heavy drinkers—fell.
Kapner also says that 65.5% of people not drinking alcohol say that they have had to deal with some sort of secondary effect because of another student’s choice. Some main secondary effects are: 60% of students have had their studying or sleep interrupted and almost 50% have had to take care of an intoxicated student. Students’ drinking behaviors are a growing public health concern.
Creating a nightlife option has positive outcomes for colleges. At Penn State, they created an alcohol-free nightlife option. The event is called LNPS (LateNight Penn State Alcohol-Free Programming). Follow-up studies proved the success of the event. Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood did many tests at Penn State on the LNPS event. It was proven that students did drink less when they attended this nightlife option.
The number of people who attended LNPS grew every 2 years; it went from 30% in 1998 to 57% in 2002. In the 2002 institutional survey, 66% of the students surveyed said they believed LNPS decreased drinking among the students who went. A lot of the students went because it made them feel comfortable that no one else would be drinking there as well(Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood). Most people drink to socialize or when there is nothing else to do. Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood said, “Underage drinking typically occurs when students go out for evening.” Most students drink to be social. This alcohol-free event is a great alternative.
At LNPS they host the event Thursday through Saturday. Thursday from 9:00 PM to Midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 9:00PM to 2:00 AM (Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood). Another University that has the same event as Penn State is Temple University. Student Activities help put on these events. Program coordinator Maureen Fisher says, “At any given time on a Friday night, there are as many as 200 to 250 people coming in and out of the student center” (Shuey). This event is a huge success among college students.
By having this social group students are associated with students who value the alcohol-free environment and this could change another student’s view on drinking (Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood). By providing an alcohol-free nightlife event, the students can be themselves, and it also keeps them safe while having fun.
Benefits for MCC
This event would also benefit Metropolitan Community College as a whole. MCC is one of the largest community colleges in the country. It is exactly the place where this group needs to exist. There is a broad age range at MCC, but 49% of the student’s ages 18 through 25 with an average age of 28 (MCC). These are the people that need this event the most. This nightlife option might even help draw more people in.
To students, college is not always about education. Students pick schools based on what the schools have to offer. MCC does a great job having monthly themes to bring awareness to other groups, and having a “cultural” calendar with events on it. A student social group could be the event on the calendar to grab all the student’s attention. “Late-night programming complements other alcohol-free activities on campus” (Shuey).
This social group could help bring awareness to the other calendar events that might not be getting a lot of attention. This would create a win-win for MCC. MCC is affordable, offers a great education, and with a nightlife option would have awesome extra-curricular activities for the students. No one could then turn it down and it would help recruit more students and make MCC a better place.
If there was an alcohol-free nightlife option people all over would see that MCC is trying to make a difference. It would prove that the college is aware of the fact that college-age drinking is a growing problem that is nationwide across campuses and that MCC wants their campus to be different.
Drinking affects the grades of the students, and Kapner said, “25% of college students have academic problems caused by alcohol use.” People then get frustrated, drop out, and do not finish college. It can be a vicious cycle, but having this social group is a step towards eliminating that.
MCC wants to increase retention rates and have a great school. MCC has worked hard to have a great and safe environment. Other community colleges, for example, Iowa Western, are more known as “party” schools. Getting the students involved in this social group and help put on the nightlife event on the weekend would encourage other students to go. The young college students are the people closest to this problem and they can have such power over the situation according to Stahlhut author of The People Closest to the Problem. Everyone is needed to participate in this group and make it happen.
This social group would benefit MCC by helping give the school a great name and increasing retention rates, and it could bring everyone together to make MCC a better and happier place. Stahlhut said, “Always begin where the people are.”
Benefits for the Community Omaha
In addition to benefiting the students, this option would help keep the community of Omaha safe. Everyone wants a community that they will feel safe. One way to help contribute to that safety is by having this nightlife event for college students. This event would help take young adults off the streets on the weekends. All the malls and stores close by nine o’clock and basically, the only thing left for this age group is a movie or in some cases getting into trouble.
So many nights Anna drives around Omaha with her friends looking for something to do or somewhere to go, but there really is not anything except to go somewhere with a party. With students driving around getting into trouble it can be bad for the neighborhoods around them. Some consequences for the community are noise, vandalism, vomiting or urinating from drunkenness, assaults, and other outbursts from reckless behavior (Kapner).
Although Anna is not out looking for trouble, that does not go for all students. Candice just had her 21st birthday, and on her 21st birthday, her friends decided to take her out to the bars. Candice has been around alcohol and drinking for a while, but this night took her by surprise. She was not prepared for the outcome. After drinking more than she should, she ended up vomiting in the street and urinating in front of the Children’s Museum. This is not okay for anyone to do and this situation is not good for the community of Omaha. According to Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood, about 12% of students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
This does not make it safe to walk around or walk to your car if you have been at a friend’s house or at the movies. According to Osgood, “Problem behaviors such as substance use and delinquency are most likely to occur during unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers” (Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood). People drink when they go out, it is a source of entertainment and socializing (Patrick, Maggs, and Osgood).
When people do things under the influence they are less in control of their actions and there can be severe consequences to their actions. Fewer students would try to drink or sneak into places that they were not supposed to go if there was a social nightlife event to go to on the weekends. If this fun event is held where people can come to hang out, dance their troubles away, and play games, there would be no need for them to get themselves into trouble elsewhere.
Concerns
This event will probably not be the savior to ending all the stupid stuff people do, but it is a start and it could help so why not try it. If this facility was fun and upbeat where people could come to play games, dance, and hangout it could be a huge success.
Some people would say that this event would need too much money to host. Well, that statement is false. In the beginning, more money may be needed but in the long run, as it became more popular, less would be needed. Having a cover charge of five dollars for the event when coming in is a very reasonable price for the accommodations that will be made. Fundraisers and sponsors could definitely help with the costs.
If students had something that they loved then they would be more willing to fight to keep it. There are also great organizations like Students Against Destructive Decisions, SADD, which want people to be aware of reckless driving, drinking, and other various bad situations, who would probably want to get on board and support such a great event. Despite the additional costs, in the beginning, this event would be well worth the money and in the end, pay for itself.
Others might argue that the creation of such a group would require too much effort when a lot of the students who go to MCC are older, but the younger students are just as important as the older ones, and the older students could certainly attend if they did not want to go to the bars or the clubs. Everyone needs to know that they matter and are important at MCC. This event would be available for everyone.
Conclusion
It is so important for people to have that sense of belonging with the people around them and this event would definitely encourage people to get to know each other. College students want something to do and especially for it to be fun. Having this event would accomplish just that. This nightlife social event would be the place where anyone could come and hang out and be with other college students and bring together those three groups that MCC has.
It will help steer students away from the alternative of drinking, reckless driving, and vandalism. It will also help the students who have to suffer the secondary effects from their fellow peers. Penn State and Temple University have had great success with their nightlife options for college students, and MCC has the great potential to have such a successful event as well.
This event will help make a better community for Omaha and MCC. Everyone wants to feel safe and this event will take students like Candice and Anna off the streets and somewhere safe. It shows that MCC cares about their students young and old and are trying to make a difference in the community. With great planning and a sincere desire to help make these weekends great, it can turn into something spectacular. This social group will help MCC in the future and make it a better place for everyone.
Work Cited
Metro. “Metropolitan Community College of Omaha, Nebraska.” Metropolitan Community College of Omaha, Nebraska. N.p., 2004. Web.
Kapner, Daniel Ari. “Alcohol and Other Drugs on Campus–The Scope of the Problem | Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention.” Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention | Welcome to the Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web.
Patrick, Megan, Jennifer Maggs, and D. Osgood. “Latenight Penn State Alcohol-Free Programming: Students Drink Less On Days They Participate.” Prevention Science 11.2 (2010): 155-162. Academic Search Premier. N.p. 2009. Web.
Seaman, Barrett. “How Bingeing Became The New College Sport.” Time 166.9 (2005): 80. Academic Search Premier. N.p. 2005. Web.
Shuey, Karen. “Student Affairs’ Late-Night Programming Offers Students Alcohol Free Weekend Options.” Temple Times. N.p. 2006. Web.
Stahlhut, Don, and Barbara Bowes. “The People Closest To The Problem.” Social Policy 34.2/3 (2003): 71-74. Academic Search Premier. Web.
Terris, Ben. “Transfer Students Are Less Engaged in Campus Activities, Survey Finds – Students – The Chronicle of Higher Education.” Home – The Chronicle of Higher Education. N.p. 2009. Web.