As students prepare for mid-semester holidays, Mississippi State University is sponsoring Safe Spring Break Days March 4 and 5.
"Don't Get Bitten by the Sharks" is the general theme for a series of educational programs designed for the campus community but open to the general public.
Mississippi State's week-long spring holidays begin March 7 at the end of classes.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, a series of displays in the Colvard Union lobby will provide information on a range of topics, among them prevention of highway accidents, sexual assault, alcohol abuse, dehydration, and sunburn.
At 3 p.m. on the 4th, Georgia Nicks from Crisis Services of Northwest Mississippi will lead a program in the Union small auditorium on Rohypnol, the brand name for a powerful sedative often referred to as "roofies" or "the date-rape drug." Originally designed as a short-term treatment for sleep disorders, the medication now is outlawed in the United States after being repeatedly linked to reports of sexual assaults.
At 6 p.m. that day, the university's Assistance in Motion (AIM) Peer Counselors will sponsor a special program on depression. Haley Darnell may be contacted for more information at (601) 325-2091.
On the 5th, Lisa Hudgens of the Mississippi Children's Home Society in Jackson will discuss AIDS and HIV in a session beginning at 7 p.m. in the Simrall Hall auditorium. Hudgens, a member of the state community planning group for HIV prevention, will focus her presentation on the relationship of AIDS/HIV to college communities.
In addition to the AIM Peer Counselors, university sponsors for Safe Spring Break Days include the Center for Alcohol and Drug Education, Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA), the HIV/AIDS/STD Rap Program, Longest Student Health Center, and the Sexual Assault Response Team.
For more information on the programs, telephone Tammy Cheramie at (601) 325-7547.