Students’ drinks not all alcoholic

It’s Friday night, and Jenna, a 19-year-old Pitt student, is preparing to head to a party on… It’s Friday night, and Jenna, a 19-year-old Pitt student, is preparing to head to a party on Atwood Street. She’s “pre-gaming” in her room, drinking some liquor — she doesn’t like the taste of beer — to get buzzed before heading out. After she puts on her last coat of lip gloss, she and her friends are off to the party, but they won’t stay all night.

With beers — or, in Jenna’s case, a glass of jungle juice — in their hands, the friends weave their way through the crushed-together, dancing bodies in the basement of their first destination. After a while, the friends leave, searching for another party and jumping from house to house in South Oakland. Their night ends around 3 a.m., when the girls head home to get some sleep before the Panthers game and the partying that may ensue the next day.

On the other side of town, Adrienne Hadfield, a 22-year-old Pitt nursing student, is in the driver’s seat, on her way to a bar with her friends. Hadfield is the perennial designated driver — tonight and every night she and her friends go out for drinks. The only beer she will have tonight will be a root beer.

Hadfield is straightedge, which, to her, means she doesn’t drink, smoke cigarettes or do any type of drugs. She joined the “community” about three years ago, and she said the lifestyle transition was not a hard one.

“It wasn’t a life-altering declaration and cold-turkey decision to stop doing something,” she said.

She had been drug-free her whole life and thought smoking was disgusting, especially after it “killed” her grandmother.

“I decided to never let myself succumb to the tobacco industry’s incessant ploys to steal my money and future health,” she said.

And as for alcohol, she added that she can count on two hands the number of times she has drunk. Hadfield doesn’t like the feeling of being drunk, and she said she would rather enjoy every moment than spend her money and time on something that would last only a few hours, leave her sick and “make [her] smell bad.”

“Stopping drinking was as easy as starting,” she said. “I only ever did it on a casual basis, and let’s face it: Throwing up isn’t cool.”

According to a study done in 2002 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one in every 10 young adults aged 18-24 is a heavy drinker, and almost two in five are binge drinkers, having five or more drinks on one occasion at least once in 30 days.

Conversely, a 1999 Harvard study reported that 57 percent of college students either abstain from drinking or drink occasionally, without getting drunk. So what motivates those who do drink to do so?

Kelly, 19, began drinking at age 14. The Pitt student admits to drinking every weekend, provided she doesn’t have a test the following week. A pharmacy major, she said she knows she needs to concentrate on her education and that she can drink as much as she wants after college.

As for why she drinks, the new sorority member said she enjoys the feeling she gets when she is “buzzed” or drunk.

“Drinking just puts me in a funny mood,” she said. “I like the way I feel when I’m drunk. It’s just fun. I could have fun without it, too, but the way you act when you’re drunk is fun.”

Jenna describes herself as a social drinker and enjoys that aspect of drinking, but she doesn’t think it’s for everyone.

“I don’t think that anyone should have to drink if they don’t want to,” she said. “I mean, yes, it loosens you up in social situations and you can meet a lot of people socially, but if someone has doubts about drinking, I wouldn’t encourage it. I believe everyone has the right to be who they are.”

Another reason Jenna drinks the way she does is because she can.

“I’ve built a pretty good tolerance for liquor,” she said. “I’ve been told that I’m the queen of liquor, and, if given the chance, I would win any liquor contest. I drink to have fun and just enjoy myself.”

Bethany Pholar, 22, had her first drink at age 20. She said she drinks minimally and enjoys a variety of scenes, from the bars in Oakland, to clubs like Matrix and Sanctuary, to the Strip. But her friends won’t find her hung-over in the morning after going out Saturday night — she doesn’t get drunk.

“I think that I drink very minimally because it’s expensive and I absolutely hate drunk people,” she said. “The good thing about drinking is the social aspect.”

Meanwhile, Hadfield said she isn’t missing the social aspect of drinking, despite abstaining from alcohol. She still goes to bars and parties, and even offers alcohol at the parties she throws. There is no divide between someone who is straightedge and someone who drinks, she added.

“I don’t alienate the kids that drink, and they don’t alienate me for not drinking,” she said. “I think we’re all adult enough to respect one another’s values. I’ve been to keggers and still had a good time without drinking.”

Kelly said partying is an integral part of the college experience.

“[Partying] is being around college students and having fun,” she said. “However, if you choose not to drink, you should still come party.”

Jen, 18, agrees that partying and drinking are integral to the college experience because they help bring students together.

“You meet so many people at parties, and it does give you a feeling of belonging at college,” the Pitt student said.

But according to these young women, Pitt doesn’t have more of a problem with alcohol than any other college environment.

“College kids drink,” Pholar said. “College age is the age where people think that it’s cool to drink. It’s pretty much expected that you’ll have drinking on any college campus, especially in a city campus such as Pitt, where there are so many bars practically on campus.”

Jenna thinks drinking can be a problem for college students, depending on the circumstances.

“There are some people who drink every night, and it interferes with their work,” she said. “Other than that, I don’t see a problem with the drinking.”

Hadfield knows people who have found a happy medium between keggers and parties without alcohol.

“I’ve heard of straightedge kids having some pretty raging root-beer keggers, but I’ve never had the privilege of attending one,” she said.

Alcohol or not, Jenna wants to make sure she gets the full experience of college and doesn’t miss a thing.

“If I were to just sit in every night, I would feel like I missed some of the best years of my life: going out and having fun and just being young,” she said.