Standing outside the Kennel Bookstore were pillars of red, orange and gold balloons. Sounds of Michael Jackson and Beyonce blared from a DJ’s booth as students walked among crimson and blue pop-up tents.
This was the attention-grabbing Oktober Wellness Festival, an event that is part of the Health Center’s celebration of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week. This “Oktoberfest” was centered on having fun while decreasing the possibilities of injury or death.
Wellness Services Coordinator Kathy Yarmo said the purpose of the event was reminding students to have fun but to do so while taking safety precautions.
“We want them to be healthy. We want them to achieve the goals they have put in place here at Fresno State,” Yarmo said.
At a booth, public health students served up frosty mocktails. These drinks are a sweet and colorful alternative to regular cocktails. The featured mocktail at the festival was a strawberry daiquiri made from lime juice, fresh fruit, sugar and ice.
Fresno State’s Associated Students Incorporated, the Alcohol Safety Council and Wellness Services created a menu of six mocktails. The beverages were billed as alternatives for those choosing not to drink at parties.
Mocktails are also promoted by Wellness Services as a way of pushing back against peer pressure. The idea is if a person is sipping a mocktail while at a party, other attendees will not push the person to drink an alcoholic beverage, since the fake cocktail looks like the real thing.
Yarmo says the Wellness Center does not promote completely abstaining from alcohol. Rather it promotes students of legal age partaking in alcohol in ways that are not dangerous.
“If you choose to drink, there are things you can do to protect yourself. First of all, one of the things we talk about is protective behavior,” Yarmo said.
There are several ways of protecting yourself when drinking. One method promoted at festival was having one drink per hour. This allows the body to fully metabolize the standard measure of alcohol thus keeping the body from becoming intoxicated, Yarmo said.
According to Health Promotion and Wellness Services, one drink equals either a 12-ounce beer, a four-ounce glass of wine or one-and-a-half ounces of 80-proof liquor.
Another safety measure is having a designated driver or calling a cab service. In the Fresno area, there are several sober driver companies including The Sober Guys, Inc. or We Be Sober.
Other prevention organizations also operated booths. The Drug & Alcohol Awareness & Wellness Guide Program, also known as DAAWG was promoting its “Protect Your ‘Dogs!” campaign. The program informs students of the physical signs of alcohol poisoning.
Lock It Up Project, a non-profit organization funded by Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health, focused on educating young people on the ills of misusing prescription drugs.
Thinking it looked like a fun way to pass time between classes, criminology student Alex Salazar attended the Oktober Wellness Festival. He said he already knew the importance of being careful when drinking, but he thinks the message of safety and prevention is an important reminder for young people.
“If you’re going to be drinking, you’re going to be liable for what happens after,” Salazar said.