Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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A member of Kappa Alpha Theta holds open a page in her shot book before it is filled out the night of her 21st birthday. According to Urban Dictionary, a shot book is a compilation of pages made by girlfriends or sorority sisters that consists of pictures, quotes and stickers on cute crafty paper. Erin Poppe age one read tequila with lime, page two read watermelon vodka, page three read lemon drop, and so it went on for 18 more pages. This was what awaited young women who chose to take part in what had been adopted in college communities across the country on the night of their 21st birthdays. They went from bar to bar with their friends, drinking whatever was handed to them until they consumed 21 shots of alcohol, A shot book was a scrapbook made by a woman's best friends and given to her on her 21st birthday. Inside were pages made by each of her friends who intended to buy her a shot that night. She picked 21 friends to represent the 21 years of her life. On the night of her birthday she took the shot book with her and each time she turned a page she took the prescribed shot. Seeing shot books in Aggieville wasn't a rare occurrence. Every weekend groups of women were seen going from bar to bar with big square scrapbooks in their hands. Every weekend there are girls that come into Rusty's , X i f 1 ir , J il if Milli, I yi ' l'l1l,m, I b a :VW iii' i ,i 'wi 1 , f 'wilt iii rift 1 iii iilil, eip.il.. if in off' iii by Ellie Long with crowns and dresses on with an entourage of girls around them taking their shotsf' said Bridget Brown, senior in elementary education and bartender of Rusty's and The Other Side bars in Aggieville. It's really bad because some girls don't have that type of tolerance and some people aren't made to be taking a bunch of shots. Especially when it's 21, a lot of people take more than that without even realizing itf' The women usually went out to dinner and started taking shots while they ate, making sure they finished 21 before midnight, or when their birthday was over. This gave them four or five hours to consume 21 shots of alcohol. Each page within the shot book had certain criteria the birthday girl had to fill out including the shot she took, the bar she took it at, the person who bought it, what time the shot was taken, a quote of what she said after she took the shot, and her signature. lt's intended to make the girl go from bar to bar, taking a different shot for each page continued on page 18 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 6M of students meet the criteria for alcohol dependence 31'M, of students met criteria for the diagnosis of alcohol abuse More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem 3,360,000 students between the ages of 18 to 24 drive under the influence of alcohol 110,000 students between the ages of 18 to 24 are arrested for an alcohol-related violation 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 to 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries 599,000 students between the ages of 18 to 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol About 25M of college students report academic consequences of their drinking if 3 shotbooks

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continued from page 17 books were known to cost anywhere from S25 to S100. I took 24 shots on my birthdayf' said Kayla Fearing, senior in communication sciences and disorders. My best friend made me my book. I will look at it 10 years from now and not care about what shot I took or what time it was. I'll care more about the pictures and notes from my friendsf' To many women, it was not only an agenda for the night you go to the bars for the first time, but a way to solidify going out and celebrating your 21st birthday. It can get kind of dan rous, but I would never choose not to have onef' said Mall Platt, senior in elementary education, It's not just a wa get hammered legally for the first time on your 21st birt ay. It's a keepsake, toof' Shot books received attentio from media outlets such as the Seattle Times, Washingto Post, The New York Times, 60 Minutes and campus organizations across the country. According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 83 percent of college students across the country drank and each year 31 percent of students met the criteria for alcohol abuse, Two out of every five students said they participated in binge drinking while in college, and 1,825 college students died from unintentional alcohol- related injuries. Because of incidents like these and others that caused women to be sent to the hospital from overconsumption, the practice of making shot books for their 21st birthdays was receiving negative attention. It's not a very good example to give the younger girls in our housef' said Kolbi Redding, senior in hotel and restaurant management and house manager of her sorority Gamma Phi Beta. Some girls choose to have memory