Correction Appended
Condoms, pizza and a sandcastle-building contest lured students to Hayden Lawn to learn about safe spring break travel Thursday afternoon.
Wellness and Health Promotion hosted Spring Break Send-Off to encourage students to play it safe next week. The event offered goodies and advice on topics students may encounter during their break from classes, including alcohol, sex and safe travel to Mexico.
"The whole purpose is to help students stay safe and healthy over the break," said Karen Moses, director of Wellness and Health Promotion. "We acknowledge that some students are going to cut loose."
She stressed that it is important to address issues such as alcohol usage.
Brian Baggot, a political science junior, is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. He said he hopes Thursday's events will help students who are planning a trip down south.
"I hope they give legal advice, like don't pee in the streets," Baggot said. "[And] they are giving out condoms. That must be good."
Veteran Mexico traveler Daniel Haitz, a finance and supply chain junior, said he thinks Spring Break Send-Off will be valuable for freshmen first-time travelers, in particular.
"For some people, it's a wake-up call," Haitz said. "They can't handle being without their parents."
Haitz was part of the winning sandcastle building team named Fiji. One of his teammates, Buck Neu, said the contest was a good way to attract students to the tables.
The team used promotional condoms and police pencils to construct their turtle-themed castle.
"[It's] fun to build sandcastles and good to promote safe sex," said Neu.
Matt Hum, also a member of team Fiji, said many students are unaware of the consequences of partying across the border.
Hum, a finance senior, said he knows people who spent two nights in a Mexican jail and had to pay $500 for their reckless behavior. He added that it's important for students to be aware of their actions.
Stewart Adams, a crime prevention specialist for the Tempe Police Department, has been involved in the Send-Off for 12 years. He said drinking alcohol anywhere can have consequences, but students may not be aware of the repercussions in Mexico.
"Any time you use alcohol, you're more vulnerable," Adams said. "In Mexico, that's a bad thing because, if you're out there being loud and obnoxious, the bad guys can target you."
He added that students should have friends around them and be wary of going places alone, "just like here."
Adams advised students to be aware of what he said is frequent corruption in Mexico.
"In Mexico, it's guilty until proven innocent," he said.
He added that the Mexican police "crack down" during spring break because of the high number of college students visiting and said a lot of places recommend taking bribe money in case of run-ins with corrupt police or thieves.
Adams said he thought the Spring Break Send-Off was "very valuable."
"Now days [students] are getting a lot of information from the Internet," he said. "But if they don't know about it, we want to direct students to it."
Correction: March 17, 2008
In March 7's article "ASU Wellness and Health advises, sends off revelers," information about who was hosting the event was incomplete. ASU's Programming and Activities Board was also a main sponsor.
Reach the reporter at: indra.ekmanis@asu.edu.
