St. Joseph students learn about effects of alcohol

THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Nearly 50 fifth-graders from St. Joseph School, Bradenton, took turns wobbling drunkenly, arms sticking out from their sides, along a florescent orange line on their classroom floor, trying to walk the line as if participating in a roadside sobriety test.

No, the students hadn't been drinking, but what they experienced was the equivalent visual impairment of someone with a blood alcohol level of .17 to .20, thanks to special Fatal Vision impaired-vision-simulator goggles. The students were able to try the goggles, borrowed from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, during a special presentation for Alcohol Awareness Month.

Taught by diocesan School Superintendent Rosemary Bratton, the students learned about the effects of alcohol on all areas of the brain over the short and long term, including sensory and motor control from the cerebral cortex and central nervous system, loss of physical and emotional control from the frontal lobes and cerebellum, loss of memory from the hippocampus, and the disruption of bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate and internal temperature from the hypothalamus and medulla.

One student, Cassidy Geiger, said she was surprised to learn that 7,000 children under the age of 16 take their first drink each day.

Steven Anderson, another student, echoed this, adding that he was amazed that there are nearly 10.1 million youths, aged 12-20, who are underage drinkers in the United States.

The alcohol awareness seminars, part of a national program and locally coordinated through the Sarasota Coalition on Substance Abuse and the Hanley Center, are being presented at each of the diocese's elementary and high schools, Bratton said later.

"Providing students with factual information helps them make the right choices, especially when it comes to alcohol abuse," she said.