Almost 100 students pledged to stay sober during CU’s Sobriety Weekend Challenge.
The event challenged students to abstain from alcohol and drugs for 96 hours, from Sept. 24 through Sept. 27.
Matthew Tomatz, the Substance Abuse Program coordinator at Counseling and Psychological Services, said that the event was a success because of willingness of the people involved.
“I don’t have an exact number but there were nearly 100 people, and good wishes all around,” said Tomatz. “I’d call it a success.”
Tomatz said that the event brought in students of all kinds.
“Some students who took the pledge said it was because they never drink,” Tomatz said. “Others said they took it because they needed a break from drinking too much.”
Tomatz also said that The Sobriety Weekend Challenge is likely to continue.
“I hope it does,” Tomatz said. “It’s still too early to say for sure, but that’s the plan.”
Despite the turnout, many CU students remained unaware of the event. Toni Blodgett, a 20-year-old sophomore accounting major said that she might have participated had she known about it.
“I never heard about it but I was sober and studying all weekend anyway,” said Blodgett. “That’s almost like I participated.”
Emily Keller, a 19-year-old sophomore humanities major also didn’t hear about the activities.
“I bet they could get more than 100 pledges if more people knew about it,” said Keller.
Jake Safran, a freshman open-option major, agreed that there should have been more publicity around the event.
“Ninety six hours doesn’t sound that hard. I bet a lot of CU students would be down for the challenge,” said Safran. “People should have gone around and given out fliers to spread the word.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Mullineaux at Lindsay.mullineaux@Colorado.edu.
2 comments
Really? How is this a challenge? Are CU students that dependent on drugs and alcohol that it’s hard to go one weekend without using them? This seems like a sad commentary on the student life here…
Paige-
After reading your comment I asked myself where on campus you spend the most time, and if you did happen to live in a dorm, which dorm? Because, in my–and I would think most people’s–experience, staying sober on the CU Boulder campus is an incredible feat. Yes, this is a massive challenge; and it seems unlikely that they were able to do it. I have to believe there were “exceptions” somewhere. I hate to ruin your optimistic perception of the students here, but there are very few who can live, let alone breath, without needing some sort of chemical stimulation to get them through a tough, trust-funded day on campus.