The St. Thomas Wellness Center sponsored a Mario Kart tournament last week in hopes of spreading alcohol awareness to students on campus.
While the Wellness Center has held the tournament before, this year’s committee moved the event to the ‘85 Game Room in the Anderson Student Center, a location chosen to attract students. Graduate assistant at the Wellness Center Luke Porter thought pairing alcohol-awareness lessons with a fun event would be a success.
“I think it’s just a good, fun way to relax and learn about alcohol education and kind of enjoy time with friends,” Porter said. “We put it in the Anderson Student Center, in kind of a central area, because we really want students to be drawn in.”
Before competing in the Mario Kart tournament, attendees completed a quiz about alcohol consumption created by senior Marcos Macias, who is a part of the Wellness Center’s alcohol and tobacco awareness team
“People think they know a lot about it (alcohol consumption), but they don’t actually,” Macias said. “So we, at the Wellness Center, try to act as a medium to give people a resource … They can learn about alcohol, like how to drink responsibly.”
Students who did not score high enough on the mandatory quiz were forced to enter the Mario Kart tournament wearing impairment goggles meant to replicate one’s vision while intoxicated.
“They’re kind of punished with wearing the goggles because we don’t want people to take away the idea that it’s fun to wear impairment goggles,” Porter said. “It’s (a) more relaxed and casual version of that real-world technology.”
Junior John Sundbo attended the event and had to wear the goggles after scoring four out of ten on the alcohol quiz. Despite the difficulty, he said it was a good way to raise awareness.
“I think this was a new and innovative idea to attract people who would not go to a typical alcohol awareness event,” Sundbo said. “I believe it really had potential to attract many.”
Junior Scott Laska also attended the event and thought it was a successful way to bring awareness to something that can be overlooked.
“(Drinking is) something that I think kids are going to do no matter what,” Laska said. “We just have to, hopefully, create avenues for people to be safe about it.”
The choice of Mario Kart came from Macias, a video game-enthusiast who enjoys creating tournaments.
“It’s something that I’m kind of fairly versed with,” Macias said.
The Wellness Center hosted the event last Friday night to not only promote alcohol awareness, but alternative ways to spend a weekend night.
“It’s an excuse to kind of get outside of your residence hall room and just hang out and maybe meet some new people,” Porter said. “It might create more community on campus and help students realize there are other ways to spend your weekends or Friday nights rather than going out to a party.”
Noura Elmanssy can be reached at elma7206@stthomas.edu.