The office of Health Promotion and Wellness at Kennesaw State recently received a $22,000 grant to participate in the Georgia Young Adult program.
The Georgia Young Adult Program, which is sponsored by the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, promotes education and awareness about highway safety issues. Underage drinking, impaired driving, destructive decisions and other high-risk behaviors are touched on by the program to decrease crashes, injuries and fatalities, according to the GYAP website.
Program Director Sherry Grable said that the grant is the 12th award for the program from the Office of Highway Safety. Grable said the grant will be used in multiple ways such as emphasizing the importance of highway safety, preventing drinking and driving and educating students on low-risk alcohol use.
The program plans to train 30 students using the Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students Initiatives Certified Peer Education Program. Students obtain certification cards upon completion of the program.
“This program is achieved by training peer-educators, providing educational programs to the schools and funding students to participate in area, state and national highway safety-related conferences,” said Kathryn Cardin, a planner for the GYAP.
Ten staff members will become certified trainers through the Training for Intervention Procedures University program and will be responsible for teaching students through Fraternity and Sorority Life among other campus needs.
Grable said that TIPS helps develop social skills and gives students information for when friends are inebriated or are in a situation involving alcohol where a student would need to intervene. Students will also learn key decision-making skills which insist that students consider the consequences of their actions.
A social norming campaign will be sought after to promote responsible alcohol use and traffic safety choices using information from KSU’s 2018 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment. Grable said advertisements will be placed on all 16 KSU shuttles for six months and high traffic bus shelters for two months.
Small inserts will be placed in the napkin dispensers at Stingers and the Commons to promote the norming campaign. Coasters will be distributed to students present at alcohol presentations and trainings, and yard signs will be placed in high-traffic areas during athletic events.
ThinkFast Interactive will be on campus providing an interactive team-building program complete with custom content including social norming information for KSU. According to Grable, Health Promotion and Wellness will collaborate with Residence Life and Fraternity and Sorority Life in implementing the programs.
According to the office of Health Promotion and Wellness website, their goal is to use education and awareness to inform students of intellectual, emotional, physical, social, environmental and spiritual developments.
The office of Health Promotion and Wellness is a unit of the Division of Student Affairs and is located in the Dr. Betty Siegel Student Recreation and Activities Center.
