To educate students on how they can be safe during their spring break vacations, various organizations on campus hosted booths on the Jesse Rogers Promenade as a part of Safe Spring Break on March 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Around 200 students were in attendance at the event and a variety of booths on campus provided different activities, each teaching a different tip on safety during spring break.

Students who attended the event were given “passports,” a worksheet that made students go to different booths at the event to answer the questions on the sheet. Once students finished the sheet, they would get a free shirt from the members of the booth the wellness center put up.

Angie Reay, director of the wellness center, said, “We want them to make sure that they are taking care of their health in many ways, and learning facts about alcohol, learning facts about sun safety – so protecting themselves when they’re out in the sun – just how to have a safe spring break.”

For Reay, it was nice to interact with students in an informative way that helps make sure they are learning to be safe.

“It feels really good. I like that we have student involvement too in everything. It’s just nice to be out here interacting with students and everything and just making sure that they all come back safe to us,” Reay said.

Staff from the Office of Residence Life and Housing was also in attendance with their own booth in which they taught students how to play a game called “flip cup.”

Derek Soper, Legacy Hall director, said, “The housing and res life booth is playing ‘flip cup’ with safe drinking habits on the bottom of the cups.”

Soper said he feels good knowing that he can help students be safe during spring break.

“It is really actually awesome and rewarding to get students stop by and want to participate, especially with spring break being a week where students sometimes do not make the best decisions. It makes me feel good that I can at least try and help to some point for them to be as safe as they can,” Soper said.

Students in attendance said they liked the free giveaway items.

“I was drawn by the free shirts and all the free stuff. I like the fact that I have to fill out this thing first [the passport] because that way I actually learned something before I get the free stuff,”Chiedza Tokonyai, mechanical engineering senior, said. “Probably I’d ask them to do it for longer than two hours for students that can’t make it so at least there’s more time for students to get here.”

Christion Nealy, kinesiology freshman, said the event helped new students prepare for what spring break in college is like.

“I just wanted to see what the event was and who was all out here. So far I have just looked around. I also filled out the paper so I got a free shirt,” Nealy said. “For people who haven’t experienced spring break from a college level, it will help them learn to be safe.”

According to Adam Shobert, kinesiology sophomore, the event was a learning experience to students who took it seriously.

“[The event] is basically saying, ‘Hey, be smart. Make good decisions on spring break. Just because you’re not in school doesn’t mean you can’t do something crazy.’ I think if [students] take it seriously, they can [learn from it],” Shobert said.

Different activities that place:

• Driving Simulator
• Drunk Goggles
• Outdoor games
• Safety tips
• Suncare protection

Items provided to students:

• Free T-shirts
• Booth giveaways
• Lunch from the dining hall
• Music