Tech system partners with state’s higher-ed

Goggles reveal drinking effects

New student group examines choices

Daily News
October 24, 2003

Tech system partners with state’s higher-ed

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System on Thursday announced a new partnership program with the state’s colleges and universities that will help students pursuing a degree in elementary education.

The 2+2 Teacher Preparation program will allow students in elementary education to complete two years of undergraduate work at any of the system’s 16 community colleges, then transfer seamlessly to a college or university around the state to complete their bachelor’s degree, KCTCS spokesman Brendan Lehane said.

The agreement is designed to help Kentucky’s teacher shortage by providing an easier path for more students to enter the education field.

“It will enhance the number of qualified teachers in Kentucky by establishing a seamless pathway between the KCTCS associate degree and the baccalaureate degree in education,” Lehane said.

Campbellsville University, Cumberland College, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Lindsey Wilson College, Midway College, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Spalding University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University are among the institutions participating in the program, which was announced at a ceremony in conjunction with the first statewide Future Educators of America conference in Louisville.

The program is being supported by the state Council on Postsecondary Education, the state Department of Education and the Education Professional Standards Board.

Retta Poe, associate dean for academic programs in Western’s College of Education and Behavioral Science, said the program will ensure that students going through the community college system meet the requirements for undergraduate degrees in the first two years, then be able to finish those degrees on time.

“The curriculums at the community colleges will be aligned so that students who start in elementary education there will be on track with where students at the university are after two years,” Poe said. “So there will be an easy transition into the four-year program.”

Western, which already has one of the state’s largest education programs, is hoping that the 2+2 program will encourage even more people to begin careers in education.

“We hope that being able to do the first two years of their degree at a community college will be an attractive option for potential elementary school teachers,” Poe said.

The Daily Independent
October 22, 2003

Goggles reveal drinking effects

ASHLAND One by one, students strapped on a set of goggles and reeled drunkenly down a hallway at Ashland Community and Technical College Wednesday.

At least they looked drunk. And that was the point of the exercise.

The goggles simulate some of the effects of drunkenness by skewing vision and upsetting equilibrium.

This week is National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, and the students were getting a quick education on the effects of alcohol.

ACTC has had the Fatal Vision goggles (students just call them beer goggles) for about a year, and they seem to be effective, said Nancy Preston, disability services coordinator at ACTC.

"They're used all over the country to simulate different levels of intoxication," she said.

The original scheme was for students to maneuver tiny remote-control cars through a maze, but the toy cars proved difficult to control even without the goggles.

Soon, students were trying to walk a straight line down the hallway in front of the student lounge, to the merriment of onlookers. "See - alcohol awareness can be fun," said Melissa Craycraft, a member of Bacchus & Gamma, a new student organization dedicated to awareness issues.

"This is harder than it looks," said Ryan Fraley, 20, a junior. "I don't drink and drive so I don't know what it's like, but if that's what it's like, I'll never do it."

The goggles were disorienting, said Angela Burnett, 34, a sophomore nursing student. "I could have fallen over and not realized it until I hit the wall, she said.

"I'm 34 and I don't drink, so to me it's not a big issue. But a lot of people my age think they can get in a car after a couple of drinks and drive," she added.

With statistics showing that people age 18-26 consume the most alcohol, alcohol awareness activities are important at the college level, said student activities coordinator Kathy Wallace.

"We're not trying to preach, but to talk about responsible choices. Don't drink and drive," Wallace said.

Whether the students will heed the advice after trying the goggles isn't certain, Preston said. "We don't know yet if it has changed behavior. We hope so."

The Daily Independent
October 22, 2003

New student group examines choices

ASHLAND The image of the rowdy college student, beer hoisted in the air, partying until dawn, is so embedded in popular culture that students like Melissa Craycraft felt the need to counteract the stereotype.

She and some of her fellow students at Ashland Community and Technical College have formed a chapter of Bacchus & Gamma, a network of college and university groups formed to spread information about alcohol, drugs and other issues facing them and their peers.

The idea isn't to discourage drinking entirely but to educate students on the consequences of drinking and driving and other high-risk behavior, said Craycraft, a 24-year-old Ashland sophomore.

"It upsets me to know the people don't know what they can be getting into," she said.

Bacchus & Gamma started in 1975 as a student organization in Florida and merged in the early 1990s with a similar organization of fraternities and sororities.

The idea is that students can get the message through to other students, Craycraft said. " We want students to know that every choice they make in life has a direct effect, especially with alcohol and drugs."

College students are particularly vulnerable, because they've moved beyond the structured world of high school and often are on their own for the first time, she said.

The organization has more activities planned, including Red Ribbon Week next week for substance abuse awareness, participation in the Great American Smokeout Nov. 20, and a Sexually Transmitted Disease awareness week in February.

The week before spring break in March, they'll hold more substance abuse awareness activities, Craycraft said. "It's the time a lot of people are about to head south, and when people think of spring break, they think of drinking," she said.

The group is seeking more members at ACTC, she said.

Those interested can call Kathy Wallace, student activities coordinator, at (606) 326-2094.