Frosh Week is a lineup of events meant to bring students together and kick off the college experience right. This year the college provided tons of free food, beer, hypnosis, a carnival, raves and DJs. Is there any better way to bring students together other than free food, activities and very cheap beer? It’s a great idea really, which is probably why many colleges and universities do it.
The connection among most frosh weeks is the alcohol consumption. It acts like a social catalyst, allowing people to feel comfortable with each other. It’s become a social norm that pretty much every college student drinks but, let’s be honest, that’s a pretty large assumption to make.
The Student Life Education Company, a registered charity and not-for-profit organization, conducted a survey on 10 Canadian post-secondary campuses questioning students’ perceptions about alcohol. They discovered that students may actually drink less than most of us think.
What controlled the survey were the students’ misperceptions. The majority of students surveyed drank only twice per month or less, but 80 per cent of those students believed everyone else was drinking once per week or more often.
To steer away these misperceptions, institutions such as the University of Western Ontario and Ryerson University held a dry Frosh Week. Their events consisted of outdoor concerts and interactive games with their main focus on health, self-awareness and diversity. Quite the shift from a conventional Frosh Week.
The college did host dry activities during the day. Brandon McNally, vice-president of student life, says that although the LCSA never thought about it before, it could definitely look at incorporating health and mental wellness into our future frosh weeks.
Frosh Week is all about meeting and becoming comfortable with new groups of people. Sure, alcohol could ease some of those nervous jitters, but relying on it can become a problem. There’s nothing wrong with dipping into the alcohol cupboard every now and again, but the next morning is usually always better when you haven’t.