MINNEAPOLIS (6/4/01) -- Augsburg College recently received one of 10 nationwide grants from the NCAA to implement an alcohol-education program for its student-athletes and the college community at-large.

Augsburg received a three-year grant worth $31,181, the largest monetary grant among the 10 colleges and universities receiving grants this year from the NCAA. Augsburg was the only Minnesota school to receive a grant.

The Augsburg CHOICES For Life program grant was initiated by the college's athletic department and the college's Counseling and Health Promotion Program. Kathy Roach, a health educator in the Counseling and Health Promotion department, will implement the grant, along with department director Nancy Guilbeault. Additional assistance will be provided by the athletic department, through Marilyn Florian, women's athletic director; and Paul Grauer, men's athletic director. Coaches Jack Osberg (football) and Lauri Ludeman (women's basketball) assisted in the grant process, along with student-athletes Jaime Kingsley and Dave Fransen.

The NCAA CHOICES program is a function of the NCAA Foundation, with support from Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. The CHOICES program seeks to encourage NCAA institutions and conferences to implement and evaluate effective alcohol-education programs. Funded programs are designed to work toward the elimination of high-risk consumption of alcohol on college campuses by promoting low-risk choices.

Each of the programs funded by the NCAA feature peer-education components, in which student-athletes and other students receive training to lead teammates and classmates in discussions promoting alcohol education. Programs are campus-wide in focus and built around athletics events, activities and/or personalities. All emphasize, in some way, the choices students must make about alcohol use.

Augsburg's program, called CHOICES For Life, will utilize innovative research-based prevention strategies to focus on assisting both student-athletes and the college community to develop positive health behaviors regarding responsible consumption of alcohol.

Components of the Augsburg program include: enlarging the college's Student-Athlete Mentor program and training student-athlete mentors as peer educators; developing non-drinking activities before, during and after athletics events; hosting first-year athlete roundtable discussions to provide alcohol and other drugs policies and information; and evaluating the current use/abuse of alcohol and other drugs by student-athletes and the college community at-large.

Other schools receiving NCAA CHOICES grants are: University of Cincinnati ($28,550); University of Louisville ($30,000); Morehead State University (Ky., $25,510); University of Nebraska-Lincoln ($29,987); State University College at Oneonta (N.Y., $30,000); St. Michael's College (Vt., $30,000); Salisbury State University (Md., $29,925); University of South Dakota ($30,000) and Troy State University (Ala., $30,000).