It is no surprise that a substantial part of the social scene on campus is dedicated to the procurement and consumption of alcohol. It is a simple fact of college life that many, if not most, students choose to drink. With this choice, naturally, come all the consequences, both good and bad that are associated with alcohol. Most students simply choose to accept the negative aspects of overindulgence – hangovers, nausea, out-of-control behavior, broken-up parties, and of course, the ever-present drama – as inescapable side effects of a fun night.
Some students, shocking as it may seem, given the present state of weekend life on campus, choose to avoid the drama by simply avoiding the drug. But the problem of finding something else to do on campus can be a daunting challenge to the student who, for whatever reason, wants to stay sober.
Sophomores Carl LoConte and Nicole Daddona found a way to reach like-minded individuals who want to avoid the ever present party lifestyle on campus. They founded the Facebook.com group “The Few, the Proud, the Sober” late last year as a gathering point for their non-drinking friends. When the freshman class began logging into Facebook soon after, membership in the group began to swell. Today, the group is made up of 75 members all united under the cause of providing a fun, safe alternative to campus partying.
The founders, surprised and thrilled with this sudden influx of interest, organized a meeting earlier this year to coordinate an informal club. Since then, they have organized several off-campus trips to movies, bowling alleys, and local restaurants, as a way to get people away from the parties on campus and to have good, clean, sober fun on the weekends.
As Daddona put it, “growing up does not have to happen the minute someone comes to college and there is no law that states that the only way to truly experience college is by getting drunk and partying. College is about learning more about yourself, your beliefs, and life as a whole, so why not do it from a sober perspective. Heck, things will at least make a lot more sense in the morning that way.”
The group is now looking to get off of Facebook and onto campus as an officially recognized student organization, tentatively called The Sober Student Union, or SSU. They have recently enlisted the support of Residence Hall Director Liz Bidwell as a faculty advisor and are currently engaged in the process of creating an official club.
Interested students can e-mail group leaders Carl LoConte and Nicole Daddona at their school e-mail addresses for more information about the group.
