Assignment

Choose one assignment from the following options to submit for this week's response. Please type up your response according to the guidelines listed in the syllabus (12 point, Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins and double-spacing), and upload your assignment as a WORD or PDF attachment at the bottom of this assignment.

Your response will be evaluated on the basis of: a) how well you demonstrate an understanding of and engagement with the course material;

b) the clarity and quality of your writing; c) your overall effort on the assignment. Remember that quality of writing is valued over quantity. The assignment will be graded on a scale of 0-10 points, and the grader's comments and grade should be available to you within one week of the original posting date.

The weekly assignments correspond with the assigned readings and lecture material from the last two weeks. The questions posed in each option are designed to help guide your thinking and response. You are not required to respond to all (or even any) of the listed questions, although your responses should be organized in some way. As with any writing assignment, providing sufficient background information to your topic and offering specific examples to support your views will make your ideas clearer and more convincing.

You are welcome to write beyond the minimum page requirement for the assignment.

Option 1:

In a 2-page response, write out your plan for staying healthy at the university. As options, you may want to consider your physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and sexual health. How well do you manage these aspects of your health now? How will you continue to manage your health in conjunction with your studies, work, social life and other things that eat up your time and attention? Do you have any specific health targets you'd like to achieve? How do you plan to meet your goals, and what campus resources can you use to help you in this process? You need not address all of these questions in your response, they are offered as a means to help you start thinking about this topic.

Option 2:

Imagine that a friend comes to you and confides that he or she is concerned with their level of alcohol-use, drug-use and/or sexual activity. What would you do to try to help them reduce, change or modify their behavior? Give examples of skills that you would employ in handling the situation; factual information you could dispense; and specific suggestions could help your friend make healthier choices in the future (use Andreatta, Ch. 6 to guide you). Type-up your response in the form of a 2-page paper.

Option 3:

Read the three the individual ‘stories from the path' in Chapter 6 (Carol-Hannah, pp. 159; Stephanie, pp. 166; Chelsea, pp. 179). How do the experiences of these students contrast or compare with your own experiences in college thus far? What insights about alcohol use, sexual engagement and communication can you glean from their stories? Do you know people who have had similar or related experiences to any of the three profiles? Write a 2-page response comparing your own experiences and/or people you know to those listed in the book.

Option 4:

Re-read Chapter 6 of Andreatta, and look up your blood-alcohol content (BAC) level using the explanation and charts on pp. 158-162. Then read about the physiological changes your body goes through as it processes alcohol on pp. 162-167. How does this information reflect your own experiences of alcohol use (if you have used alcohol) or your observations of others who drink? How might this information change or shape your own consumption of alcohol (the frequency, type and volume), or how you respond to others who drink? How useful is the list of ‘Dos' and ‘Don'ts' on pp. 165-167 to help you manage your own drinking style? Write a 2-page paper responding to some of these questions.