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Hayleigh Pataki English 101 – 506 Feature Article

Newspaper: The Dominion Post
Audience: Morgantown Residents

School Gone Wild

Partying, heavy drinking, and drugs are all associated with the word college. When thinking about college students most people think of rambunctious teenagers doing whatever they couldn’t do while living at home. These stereotypes are commonly true but universities worldwide are slowly trying to crack down on the excessive amount of alcohol being consumed by college students and trying to get kids to drink smarter, if they choose to drink.
West Virginia University has had a bad rep when it comes to being a party school. Many years in a row WVU has been in the top 5 on Playboy Top 10 Party Schools as well as Princeton’s Review (Playboy & Princeton Review). Having a reputation like this brings a lot of concern to the staff and the surrounding community; which led to a program being created called drinkWELL. I had to find out what this whole program was about because it sounded really interesting and it could possibly help our “party school” image.
As I walked into Lincoln hall a petite blonde casually greeted me. We walked straight to the elevator where it took us to the 3rd floor and right into the lounge area. The area around us was very modern furniture with a group of kids sitting on the couch screaming at the football team who was currently losing to Maryland. We sat down and began talking. I began talking to Lauren Gerchufsky, the wellness coordinator at Lincoln Hall. She is a senior at WVU and has been working with well wvu since she has been a freshman. “drinkWELL is a program that is from August to September to help college students at WVU make smarter choices when drinking. We are not telling anyone to not drink just giving suggestions on how to drink smarter.” Colleges don’t have the power to control their kids to not drink but telling them how to stay safe and not overdose on



Cited: Lauren Gerchufsky. Personal interview. 20 Sept 2013. "The Top 10 Party Schools In America According To Playboy." Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. “College Drinking.” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

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