Residence Life and the Wellness Center teamed up to host the second annual Party Rockin’ event Monday night in the Koch Fireside room using activities to inform students about the effects of drinking alcohol.

Manuela Muñoz Alvarez, Dowling Hall area director and hostess for the event, explained that the change from last year’s discussion-based event to this year’s activity-based was prompted by students.

“We received feedback from people saying, ‘The discussion was nice, but what if it didn’t apply to me?’” Alvarez explained. “We thought of different tables that apply to everybody, so hopefully rotating through will be helpful.”

This year’s event had seven tables, each discussing a different aspect related to alcohol. Students were supposed to visit each and get a checkmark on their card after learning about what each station had to offer. At the end, all the completed cards were put into a drawing for prizes including a Fitbit.

Sophomore and resident adviser Jordan Pinnix promoted the event to his residents and believes it’s useful for everyone.

“A lot of people, they don’t necessarily take an alcohol course until after they’ve already gotten in trouble for it,” Pinnix said. “I think it’s important to have events like this just for the amount of people that do show up and do learn from it. It does a lot for them; it benefits a lot of people.”

One table educated students about proper Minnesota winter attire.

The table was added “to discuss the effects of alcohol on the body and how important it is to dress warmly,” Alvarez said. “Alcohol lowers the body temperature and prevents people from feeling cold, making people less able to feel the effects of hypothermia.”

To combat this effect, sophomore and Murray Hall residence adviser Maya Gardiner educated students on proper attire, asking them to choose from a rack of clothing what they thought would keep them warm.

“I think it’s important for students to know what to do when they go out because it’s naive to think no one does it,” Gardiner said.

Other tables hosted a mocktail bar where students learned how to mix drinks sans alcohol and a table discussing how to deal with roommate issues surrounding drinking.

The event’s goal was not to push students to abstain from drinking but to teach them how to make an educated decision about their alcohol consumption and the issues that can arise from it.

The Wellness Center and Residence Life purposefully chose to hold this event before spring break.

“Spring break has this stigma around the nation as a time for students to go out, party and go off to the beach to do whatever,” Alvarez said. “Right before spring break is a nice time to remind our students of, Hey, let’s all be smart and adults.”

Alvarez said approximately 80 students attended the event.

Meghan Meints can be emailed at mein9517@stthomas.edu.