by Karina Guzzi
Daily Lobo
Health groups on campus say they want students to have fun over spring break but not forget to be safe.
"Students know how to have fun, but they really don't know how to be safe," said Kelly Darnell, coordinator of the Safe Spring Break event Thursday.
Darnell said she organized the event because it is important to inform students on ways to have a safe spring break.
UNM and community groups had tables at the Duck Pond focused on road safety, sexual health and safe alcohol consumption.
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Reuben Estrada, project assistant for the Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention, said he didn't want to tell students not to drink but how to do it safely.
Estrada gave out fliers and asked students to sign up for a designated driver program.
Members of Care Net, a pregnancy resource center, were there to inform students about STDs and options women have if they get pregnant.
"We're not here to twist any arms," Soni Rhame said. "If a person owns a problem, they need to own the answer to that problem."
She said this kind of event is important because spring breaks can get out of hand.
"I have a son in college, and he never comes home for spring break," Rhame said. "I know how crazy it can be."
Laurel Leisher, massage therapist at the Student Health Center, said massages are important to help with stress release, circulation and relaxation.
"Students should get one at the beginning of spring break to relax over the whole break," Leisher said. She said it doesn't work for hangovers, though.
Victoria Youngblood, a UNM student, said the event was a fun and resourceful way to bring important information to students.
"It gives students lots of information that they really need to know, especially freshmen who never had a spring break before," Youngblood said.
Darnell said she was satisfied with the outcome of the event. She said she organized it in a way that students got prizes if they spoke to the groups present at the event.
"We had a great event with great prizes," Darnell said. "The grand prizes were two round-trip tickets with Southwest Airlines."
Students got a card that they had stamped at different tables. When they got two stamps, they won a prize. If they got all six stamps, they were entered into a drawing for a vacation.
She said the event was a way to ensure students were getting the information she wanted them to have.
Safe Spring Break was scheduled to go from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. but ended an hour early because of the wind.
"I think it was really unfortunate," Darnell said, adding she wished the weather had cooperated.
Darnell said about 500 students participated in the event.
Other groups that participated were the Women's Health Center, Student Health Advisory Committee, Peer Consultants and Educators, Alcoholics Anonymous, New Mexico State Police and Elephant Butte Lake State Park.
