For Immediate Release: February 15, 2008

Contact: Annette Barnette
Public Relations & Marketing Director
Glenville State College
Glenville, West Virginia
(304) 462-4115

Glenville, WV – Glenville State College is receiving some monetary assistance to educate local residents about underage drinking prevention. GSC’s Student Affairs Office has received a five-hundred dollar grant from the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The funding will be used to hold a public town hall meeting on underage drinking.

GSC Dean of Student Affairs Jerry Burkhammer said, “It is wonderful we received the grant. It’s important we continue to get the message out about the dangers of underage alcohol consumption and the consequences that can be involved. This grant is helping us get the word out.”

Glenville State College’s meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 1st at 7:00 p.m. in the Mollohan Campus Community Center. The meeting will be one of hundreds being held nationwide to discuss and raise awareness about the dangers of underage drinking. It’s being sponsored by GSC and the Federal Government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking. Parents, teachers, school officials, youth, and other community members are invited to attend to learn more about the impact that underage drinking has on the community and to discuss ways to possibly address this issue.

GSC Student Affairs Director Kipp Colvin said, “We hope this meeting will be a way for us to raise awareness about the dangers of underage drinking and make a difference in our community.”

New data show that approximately 29 percent of youth ages 12 through 20 have used alcohol. By the time, they reach the eighth grade, forty-one percent of adolescents have had at least one drink, and almost twenty percent report having been drunk.

For more information on the meeting, contact Kipp Colvin, GSC Director of Student Activities, at (304) 462-4114.