Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Staying Safe □ BREAK - OVER THE t#,tl 1 11 * BY NICOLE JOHNSON THE GAMECOCK USC students are regularly visiting the tanning beds, work ing out at the Strom and calling travel agencies in anticipation of spring break. It is almost that time of year, and the Alcohol and Drug Programs Department and Carolina Productions are teaming up for Safe Spring Break Week. Both organizations want students to know that this spring break will be one for all students to be safe and healthy, and one for all students to remember. Safe Spring Break Week is a program held each year at col leges and universities nation wide the week prior to spring break. USC Alcohol and Drug Programs Department Director Laura Talbott said the week is a series of activities for students held focusing on encouraging them to stay substance free and make responsible decisions during spring break. Activities are also planned to promote low risk, responsible decisions regarding health and safety. “When students have free time over spring break, they’re at an increased risk at using al cohol at levels higher than nor mal. Safe Spring Break Week is designed to raise awareness about negative consequences and to promote healthy choic es,” Talbott said. The theme of the week, “Be Your Own Lifeguard,” kicks off Feb. 27 at 10 p.m., with Late Night Carolina in the Russell House lobby. A different event is scheduled each day through March 3. Throughout the week, a spring break survival kit con taining products and informa tion on how to be safe and healthy will be distributed free to students. USC’s program has won the Bacchus/Gamma National Competition six years in a row between 1997-2002 for out standing programming, com peting against other colleges all over the nation. Each year the ADPD sends a proposal of the school’s events for the week to the competition. Last year, the program came in second place. “This program bridges a gap between students and the uni versity to show that the uni versity cares about their wel fare on and off campus, since most students will be leaving for spring break,” Graduate Adviser for Carolina Productions Shannon Calega said. The Carolina Productions team is excited to be working with the ADPD to make this event a success. “We want to show students they can have fun and be safe at the same time,” Calega said, on carnival schedule Mai*ch 3 on Greene Street. Carnival events include free food, raffled prizes, a live DJ, spin art, a tsunami slide and a handwriting analysis, which Calega said was a “big hit” last year. Also at the carnival, com munity organizations will share programs and services with students. All students are invited to the events starting Feb. 27, for freebies, fun and to sign a pledge not to drink and drive this spring break. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu | Be Your Own Lifeguard | Calendar of events FEB. 27: LATE NIGHT CAROLINA SPRING BREAK WEEK KICK-OFF (10 P.M. - 2 P.M.), RUSSELL HOUSE LOBBY MARCH 1: TABLE AND SIGNING OF ANTI DRINKING AND DRIVING PLEDGE CARDS, DESK AREA OUTSIDE THE GMP (10 P.M. • 2 P.M.); CAROLINA PRODUCTIONS IS HOSTING COMEDIAN MARGARET CHO, KOGER CENTER (8 P.M.) MARCH 2: TABLE AND SIGNING OF ANTI DRINKING AND DRIVING PLEDGE CARDS, DESK AREA OUTSIDE THE GMP (10 P.M. - 2 P.M.); SIGNING OF PLEDGE CARDS, WELLNESS-SPONSORED “FIT SHOP" AND CELEBRATION FOR THE STROM THURMOND WELLNESS 8i FITNESS CENTER’S FIRST ANNIVERSARY (4 P.M. - 7 P.M.), STROM THURMOND WELLNESS & FITNESS CENTER ROTUNDA MARCH 3: CARNIVAL AND DISTRIBUTION OF SAFE SPRING BREAK SURVIVAL KITS, GREENE STREET (11 A.M. - 3 P.M.) MARCH 4: TABLE AND SIGNING OF ANTI DRINKING AND DRIVING PLEDGE CARDS, .DESK AREA OUTSIDE THE GMP (10 P.M. - J Sorensen returns to road for 2nd Bow Tie Bus Tour BY KEVIN FELLNER THE (iAMECOCK While students are boarding planes and trains or hitting the highway in early March for spring break ‘04, USC President Andrew Sorensen will be embarking on the first three legs of his second Bow Tie Bus Tour, as well as handling the universi ty’s business as usual: In an effort to extend his 2002-2003 public relations multi-stop tours to various regions in the state, Sorensen plans to visit Florence and the Pee Dee region on March 8, Orangeburg and Charleston later in the week and an overnight trip to Atlanta over the week end of March 14. The purpose of his trav el, which took him to all 46 counties in South Carolina on his first go round and as far as California on last year’s Bow Tie Sky Tour, is to meet with potential donors, students and busi ness partners to advance the university’s academic integrity and financial sta bility. “It’s a variation with a similar theme,” Vice President for Advancement and bus tour organizer Hudson Akin said about the difference in this tour from the last. Sorensen will surely be boarding the “Rooster Roadster,” a gamecock-em blazoned mini-bus normal ly used to give campus tours, and donning his sig nature garnet bow tie. But this time he’ll have a more experienced view of the university in his second . year as president. “He’ll talk about how we’ve persevered through a round of budget cuts made by the state agencies and how the university has, in spite of that, contin ued to improve the student body and how the faculty has continued to make the University of South Carolina the university of choice in this state,” Akin said. A new focus will be to motivate administrators and deans to join him for tour stops. Akin said he hasn’t received responses from many top-level uni versity officials but expects ♦ BOW TIE, SEE PAGE 7