My first experience with alcohol was during zero week of my first year. I remember it well.
During the tribal downing of shots, the unfamiliar bitterness of vodka prompted me to pour half of my shot onto the apartment floor. I was a walking party foul and an intentional alcohol waster: a college blasphemy.
A compassionate fraternity brother, noticing my pain, offered to concoct a “girly” drink for me. He proceeded to fuse mysteriously colored liquids together until he produced something so ambrosial that my taste buds screamed, “More! More! More!”
This was the genesis of the debauchery that encapsulated my first year (and only my first year).
UCLA implements AlcoholEdu to enlighten students on the dangers of alcohol, but frankly, the program is far from effective. The virtual reality that it creates stigmatizes drinking and parties as negative and exceedingly treacherous.
Furthermore, a computer simulation cannot accurately instruct students on how their bodies will react to alcohol; only exposure induces familiarity.
Ironically, I had previously shunned the drug: My Christian parents raised me to equate drinking with sinning. So while my friends branded AlcoholEdu as futile, I was the girl who sat at home taking notes.
Yet when it came down to party time, the principles of safety and prudence that AlcoholEdu taught me were lost.
Focusing on potential repercussions amid deafening music, excited masses of strangers (sometimes publicly flaunting displays of affection), and blinding darkness is near impossible.
Students admit that the curriculum was a chore they apathetically skimmed through and that they didn’t retain much from the program.
Christopher Lu, a first-year biochemistry student, deviates from this stance.
“The interactive scenarios the program gave … helped me feel more prepared if I encountered a similar situation,” Lu said.
But alcohol doesn’t foster an environment exclusively comprised of people partaking in risque behavior. Intimate nights out and small kickbacks are enjoyable ways to bond with others.
Yes, there are always the extreme anomalies ““ the ones who probably induce God to tears with their behavior. Irresponsible drinking increases the likelihood of bad conduct because alcohol deteriorates inhibitions.
But Kristen McKinney, the associate director of student development, said the low level of alcohol abuse is not necessarily due to AlcoholEdu but because UCLA is comprised of students who generally prioritize academics over all else.
My precepts with alcohol stemmed from personal experiences rather than a computer-simulated program.
Every student has a unique body, and nobody and nothing but you can estimate your body’s response to various types and amounts of alcohol. And in the end, where AlcoholEdu instilled fear, personal experience imbued me with endearing memories.