Photo Designed By: Athena Gonzalez

Celebrating alcohol-free fun, Soberfest invites all to participate on Wednesday, Oct. 14.  

From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., the Student Lounge (GEB 151 and 154) will be decorated in neon fashion with free finger food, mocktails and freebies while supplies last, in addition to fun interactive activities and resources from JCCC Counseling, JCCC Police Department and MOCSA that convey the value of sobriety.  

 Although it’s an annual tradition, Student Life Ambassador Maya Abreu said it gained much more momentum last year because the theme shifted to something more vivid and exciting.  

 “We decided to do a neon glow party, and it was a complete success. We had 135 students show up. It was insane; the food was good, a lot of people were hanging out and dancing; we had mocktails as well,” said Abreu.  

 Student Life aims to continue that theme on Wednesday with glow-in-the-dark games, face paint and popular party hits in the Student Lounge.  

 The organization is responsible for many of the campus events pertaining to student engagement outside of classes. According to Abreu, much of the event planning begins the semester before the chosen dates.   

“If it’s a new event, it takes way longer, but since [the theme for Soberfest] is something we already did in the past, it takes about a month [to prepare]… We just had to, for example, contact the resources that we would have, including the police on campus, and [order the supplies],” said Abreu.  

In addition to fun activities and games, several JCCC-affiliated organizations will have tables and resources for students to visit, including JCCC Counseling, the JCCC Police Department, and MOCSA.  

Crime Prevention Officer Dan Robles of the JCCC Police Department said that, rather than simply surveilling, he and another officer will run a table with resources featuring sobering statistics on alcohol trends among young adults. Many of these pamphlets and educational displays from organizations “In the Know Zone” and the Kansas Department of Transportation detail the dangers related to impaired driving and binge drinking. They report that, among many other facts, drivers under the age of 21 are involved in fatal crashes at a rate of 14 per 100,000 licensed drivers and that alcohol kills more than 100,000 people annually.  

 To drive home the dangers behind alcohol impairment, the table will also host a series of exercises and items that simulate the experience of being intoxicated or under the influence by replicating mock field testing, including the use of “fatal vision goggles.”  

 “You put them on, and it gives you the feeling of being under the influence of alcohol. The difference, though, in these goggles, is that it just affects your eyes. But when people overconsume alcohol, it’s not just the eyeballs; it’s the muscles, reflexes, just the way you stand, posturing, all that stuff is affected,” Robles said. “So we’ll go ahead and have them run through a test, and they do about five or six things.” 

 Officer Robles finds that the value of sobriety is knowing that you don’t have to consume alcohol to have fun, and that the danger surrounding it tends to appear and grow in bad decisions.  

 “Sometimes alcohol gets into an environment with students and people who are underage; it’s against the law to begin with, but other bad things can happen, and that momentum can start going,” said Officer Robles. “Worst-case scenario: they overconsume and get behind the wheel of a car. So we’re looking [at] the consumption of alcohol [as] not a good thing, and that making [it] a part of the party lifestyle like they show on social media and TV could have serious consequences to those actions.” 

 Like many postsecondary education institutions, JCCC has a strict Substance Abuse Policy that prohibits students from the unlawful manufacture, dispensation, and possession of controlled substances and alcohol abuse. Officer Robles said that in addition to enforcing it, officers want students suffering from potential substance abuse to get the help they need by providing assistance.  

 “Believe it or not, we’ve been pretty fortunate that substance abuse is not really large here. The key thing is probably mental illness, and mental health is huge right now. It’s not all about just arresting a person if they have marijuana on them or if they’ve overconsumed or whatever; we still look at that person and say, ‘Do we see about getting them into counseling? Do we take them into a facility where they may get help?’” said Officer Robles.  

 In addition to resources about alcohol, the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, or “MOCSA,” will have a table providing resources about awareness regarding support for sexual assault survivors.  

 The Kansas City-based non-profit works to support sexual assault survivors and help them navigate systems they want to go through with resources and advocates. Its on-campus outreach office is in the Regnier Center, Room 303. At least one advocate is present Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to support survivors with free counseling and resources. The organization works through its departments of education, advocacy, and prevention, and expects to have a table at Soberfest to spread awareness about its message.  

According to Advocacy and Outreach Specialist Ainsley Pickering, alcohol is the number one substance that is used in drug-facilitated sexual assault. 

“A big portion of sexual assaults happen when somebody is under the influence and unable to consent. We really like to narrow down and educate the community about victim-blaming terminology because a lot of people, their first response is ‘Oh, you were drinking’ or ‘Oh, you were out at this party’ or ‘You were wearing these types of clothes out at this situation, so that must mean it’s okay.’ And that’s just not the case,” Pickering said.  

 Events like Soberfest help to get the word out there about MOCSA as well as the dangerous situations alcohol can introduce.  

 “The more we talk about drug-facilitated sexual assault in general, the better we are able to educate,” Pickering said.  

 Soberfest will be followed by an after-party the next day at the COM Atrium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to converse about binge drinking and peer pressure through tips and activities.  

 “Overall, I would encourage everyone to show up [to Soberfest]. It’ll be a good time,” said Abreu.  

To learn more about Soberfest, visit its Get Involved page.