SHREVEPORT – College students face pressure to fit in socially while juggling academics and employment, sometimes turning to alcohol and other drugs to manage those stressors.
LSUS aims to lighten that load with its second annual Neon Night, a substance-free skating and dancing event that encourages social interaction.
The Jan. 24 event in the LSUS gymnasium will feature a skating rink, a dancing competition complete with a DJ, and mocktails – alcohol-free drinks meant to mimic beverages found at clubs.
All LSUS students are invited to attend the event, which lasts from 6-9 p.m.
“We wanted to establish more active engagement with our student body and a ‘party with a purpose’ mindset,” said Dr. LaToya Hemphill, assistant dean of students at LSUS. “You can have fun without the inclusion of mind-altering substances.”
Hemphill chairs LSUS’s taskforce on alcohol and other drugs, which includes key partners like Kendal Redel, director of LSUS Counseling Services.
Redel said Neon Night is the highlight of a week programming that educates students about the effects of alcohol and other drugs.
“We’ll have information about what these substances do to the brain and to mental health,” Redel said. “Adjusting in general to college with its new expectations and the pressure to fit in is difficult.
“Add in the COVID-19 pandemic and how students’ ability to interact socially in face-to-face settings has declined – we feel like Neon Night is a great way to reach students on a variety of topics that impact mental health.”
According to a 2022 national survey on drug use and health, 49 percent of full-time college students drank alcohol in the past month with 29 percent engaging in binge drinking (five or more drinks for males, four or more for females, in a two-hour period).
One in four students experience academic problems because of drinking.
Hallucinogens, like marijuana, is rivalling alcohol use on college campuses. The National Institutes of Health survey reported 44 percent of college students using marijuana at least once in 2020.
“More times than not, students use these substances to be part of a social circle,” Hemphill said. “Neon Night offers a different way for students to engage with each other and not feel the pressure to use alcohol or other substances.”
Redel added that students can turn to substances to cope with anxiety.
“Students are still learning coping and life skills, and sometimes they turn to these substances as a coping mechanism,” Redel said. “We’re offering a different way to deal by building face-to-face interaction skills.”
The event is timed in late January to welcome back students for the spring semester and to coincide with Dry January, a national campaign designed to eliminate alcohol consumption for a month.
Participants in Dry January reported decreased alcohol usage in the months following January and other benefits such as weight loss, improved skin, and less irritability and anxiety, according to a University of Sussex study in 2019.
