On Monday October 8th I attended a presentation about alcohol awareness at UTSA. The presentation was sponsored by Greek Life and was mandatory for all fraternity and sorority members to attend. My boyfriend happens to be in a fraternity at UTSA so I decided to tag along. The speaker that night was alcohol and drug awareness counselor Mike Green.
Mike Green is a very seasoned public speaker having spoken at more than 1,000 colleges around the country. At the very beginning of his presentation he gave a short biography about himself. Mike attended the University of Connecticut and was a star football player there. However, it was during his time in college that Mike became addicted to alcohol. After college Mike played for the Philadelphia Eagles for two years. After that he spent many years as a college football coach. Throughout his football and coaching career Mike struggled with alcoholism. It took him 20 years of ritualistic abuse to kick the habit. It was after his 2 decade bout with alcoholism that Mike decided to speak to the college community about being able to identify unhealthy drinking habits in hopes of preventing them from becoming alcoholics.
What was surprising about Mike’s presentation was that he didn’t advocate abstinence altogether, but in using moderation when deciding to drink. He illustrated several stories he had heard throughout his speaking career about tragic alcohol related incidents. What made these stories different was that none of the people mentioned were raging alcoholics; they just got way to drunk on one occasion and it totally changed their lives.
Mike never said it was not alright to drink he just gave guidelines on how to do it responsibly. He explained how much alcohol is in a beer, shot, wineglass, and an MD 20/20. He also explained the importance of spotters, people who are sober and watch out for their intoxicated friends.
The real difference about Mike’s presentation was how down to earth he was. He integrated profanity and college humor so seamlessly into the presentation that it was hardly offensive and came off very genuine. However, Mike Green's presentation was not all humor based, Mike hit pretty close to home when he revealed that he was diagnosed with throat cancer as a result of his alcoholism. After revealing this, the tone of the presentation was changed, and students now listened very intently.
Overall it was an excellent presentation. The subject of alcohol abuse has been beaten to death, but Mike made the presentation both enjoyable and engaging.
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