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Latwell Nyangu Youth Interactive Writer

College life is known as one of the most memorable years of one’s life.

It is entirely different from school life. College life exposes us to new experiences and things that we were not familiar with earlier.

For some students, college life means enjoying life to the fullest and partying hard. And in trying to adjust to the new freedom, many of us have fallen victims of beer binges.

A lot has happened during the beer binging, but fellow students stay focused, don’t go astray.

For others, college is a time of new freedom. They can engage in drinking and other risky behaviours without parents around.

Much can be said but the crop of students of this generation is quite different. It’s not something that I am trying to create but our generation is wild.

Within the last couple of decades, college students have started consuming more hard liquor than beer. Rather than drinking to socialise, an increasing number of young adults are drinking to get drunk.

The end goal for some is to drink as much as possible or black out. These outcomes are extremely dangerous and have possibly led to life-threatening effects.

College students binge-drink at higher rates than young people the same age who don’t attend college.

Fellow students, when you drink, don’t go astray. When you drink, stay focused, don’t go astray.

Many of these students fall into peer pressure and begin drinking soon after the first day of classes. Alcohol use is commonly viewed as the “college experience” that students desire.

They want to fit in and make new friends, so they keep drinking without thinking about the potential consequences involved.

Excessive alcohol consumption can take a toll on a student’s academics. Drinking may even become a priority over attending classes, completing homework and studying for exams. An estimated one in every four college students admit to having poor grades or other academic problems because of their drinking behaviour.

A lack of effort in school can make a difference in whether a student passes or fails a class. It can cost thousands of dollars to retake a course or change majors due to bad grades. In addition, failing classes will push back a student’s graduation, taking more time and money to complete the degree programme.

Nearly every college student has been impacted by alcohol use during their academic career – even if they have never drunk themselves.

Sadly, I will share a sad story of two students whom I know personally. I am part of their journey where I do some side hustles.

The two started well but they are ending on a bad note. They are now taking some strong liquor and they seem to be losing focus, one has since dropped out after squandering fees to just get drunk.

While the other one is no longer stable, the way he speaks, the way he explains, is worrying.

We are losing focus after drinking beer, fellow students.

Students drink beer, party, go on trips among other things which I will not mention today. But the bottom line is as students, we ought to be responsible and be focused, not to lose focus over alcohol.

You risk losing time to read or you end up doing things which are not necessary. Most promiscuity behaviour begins when you are drunk.

Some students go to college with a lot of past drinking experience. The start of freshman year, in particular, can be a time when a lot of heavy drinking occurs.

For students who binge-drink, getting drunk is often the main goal. And getting drunk can lead to many other dangers.

These include dizziness, loss of coordination, lack of judgment, or even passing out.

Unverified reports say, college students continue to drink more than people of the same age not enrolled in college. Each year, an estimated 1 825 college students between 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries.

College alcoholism affects millions of students every year. The college years are some of the most popular times to experiment with alcohol.

While another report says, roughly 80% of college students —four out of every five — consume alcohol to some degree. It’s estimated that 50% of those students engage in binge drinking, which involves consuming too much alcohol in too little time.

Many students admit to drinking alcohol even before they enter college but many of us have started drinking while at college. After graduating high school and moving out on their own, college students want to experience their new-found freedom and independence.

The availability of alcohol at sporting events and social activities is often tempting to students.

What may start out as one drink can quickly turn into two, three or more.

And one thing that excites students is drinking week after week which has seen some starting to tolerate alcohol.

Frequent heavy drinking greatly increases your chance of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD), which can cause serious physical and emotional damage.

While some side effects are temporary and go away within a matter of days, others can affect you for years to come.

Alcohol-related problems begin to arise when an individual drinks excessively and puts their health — and the health of others — at risk. Several consequences associated with heavy drinking in college are:

Many sexual assaults are a result of beer binges. All too often, perpetrators prey on victims who have been drinking.

Victims are sometimes too incoherent to fight back or pass out before knowing what happened. Sexual assault can have a lasting effect on someone emotionally and physically, including getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), having an unwanted pregnancy, or causing lasting psychological damage.

When someone is under the influence of alcohol, their actions may be entirely different from how they would normally behave.

This involves committing a crime, no matter how minor it may be, that a person wouldn’t have committed if they were sober. Highly intoxicated college students usually partake in vandalism, property damage, driving under the influence and other criminal activities.

So fellow students, when drunk, stay focused!