By Kaitlin Andorfer

A giant cardboard house constructed in the Student Center drew large crowds last Wednesday.

“The House that Alcohol Built” was an event sponsored by the Dean of Students Office in honor of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.

Tables were set up outside of Bits ‘n’ Bytes and the Student Center, where students could write down their most memorable experience with alcohol on paper bricks and anonymously submit them to be part of the constructed house.

Students had the opportunity to write the names of people they knew on paper tulips who died from alcohol-related causes.

The house was made up of 127 bricks and 20 tulips, which were placed at the foot of the house.

Some memories included friends jumping out windows, streaking, throwing up and enduring headaches.

One brick read, “My uncle is an alcoholic. I don’t think he knows it. I’m sure he probably has a beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t think he functions.”

Most students wrote negative experiences and some said these were the reasons they chose not to drink alcohol.

Another brick read, “I choose not to drink because my stepfather was an alcoholic and it ‘left a bad taste in my mouth.’

A few students wrote of people they had lost in Alcohol-related incidents like the brick with the inscription, “My friend was killed by a drunk truck driver. She was on her way home from her boyfriend’s house and the truck driver ran the red light, hitting her head on and killing her instantly. She’ll always be missed.”

Alcohol affects many college students in a negative way. For some students, the presence of alcohol on college campuses manipulates their social lives, health and education.

One student wrote “It took control of my life for two years…then it took one of my best friends away from me.”

It’s no wonder alcohol is becoming such a problem. According to a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University, college students spend $5.5 billion dollars on alcohol and drink an estimated 4 billion cans of beer annually.

“I found it very troubling and it makes me think twice about how my friends drink,” senior Laura Stoloff, accounting major said. “I grew up with alcohol in my family, but it was never so prevalent that it became a problem.”

Heather Bray, assistant dean in New Student Support Services, passed out Rice Krispy Treats and other snacks with alcohol facts written on them and encouraged students passing through the Student Center to stop and read the messages written on the house.