Falmouth High School - Clipper Compact Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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lem of chugging alcohol alone. Mrs. McGuire stated that in her opinion the student leaders are the kids who are the most vulnerable to drinking too much alcohol. She said that these kids are under great stress to perform well, whether on tests or in sports. In her remarks to the teach- ers, Mrs. McGuire asked, How can we make alcohol seem uncool to students?” and answered, We have to reach the real leaders - our student athaletes to make this hap- pen. My husband and I are commit- ted to saving other lives. We are doing it for Ted and we are asking 14

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ally. All FHS students can remember answering a barrage of questions like, do you take cocaine or use alcohol and marijuana? , on the sur- vey issued by Falmouth Drug And Alcohol Task Force. The results of this poll showed only too obviously that some students do have a problem with drugs. Then, late in October there was the shocking news of Ted McGuire. News of the 1985 graduate of FHS dying of alcohol poisoning in his Yale dorm room was hard to accept. Mrs. McGuire, however, withstood the great loss and became a great force in the community, with a clear message that, alcohol is a drug that can kill, in hopes of preventing more mistakes because of naivety. Mrs. McGuire said that the preven- tion of further deaths from alcohol poisoning has to be a community effort. The parents, teachers, com- munity members, and student lead- ers all have to become involved. In particular, the alcohol problem is more common with boys. Boys do a lot of binge drinking, while paricipat- ing in dangerous drinking games, she said. Mrs. McGuire spoke to FHS faculty members about the need for teachers to become more involved in the crusade against alcohol abuse among students. I have a message to get across, and I ' m do- ing it for Ted, said Mrs. McGuire. Jill Goslee wrote an article for the stu- dent newspaper about the impor- tant points Mrs. McGuire gave when talking to the teachers. She said that she had seen literature that stu- dents receive in health class, and it does not stress the dangers of binge drinking. It does warn of mixing alcohol with drugs or driving but says little concerning the prob- 13

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for your help. A Drug and Alcohol Program was held for the FHS winter athletes where once again Mr. and Mrs. McGuire spoke along with Falmouth Police Chief Paulino Rodriques. I ' m the last person you want to run into, Chief Rodriques told the ath- letes. You kids have to realize, however, that everyone is here to help you. You students, he contin- ; ued, do not have any right to alco- holic beverages, period. And I ' m going to try as hard as I can to pre- vent you from buying alcohol. Even in sociology the problems of alcoholism were addressed by guest speaker Jack Demello, the newely elected Barnstable County Sherriff. When speaking to Mrs. Courtney ' s class he said that all al- coholics are sick because alcohol- ism is a disease, but it is the sober alcoholic who must realize and face his or her problem with alcohol. Mr. Demello said that alcoholism is a progressive disease, this means that as an alcoholic gets older, the prob- lem worsens. He encouraged stu- dents to go into an alcoholism clinic if they or someone they know has a drug or alcohol problem. Guilt en- ergizes; shame paralysis, he said, urging students to take action to help an alcoholic. Mrs. Courtney took an in-class survey on the num- ber of students who drink alcohol. Only five out of twenty-two (less than 23%) students said that they do not drink. According to the sur- vey, almost all of the students who drink on weekends do not drink on week days. The variety and amount of alcohol consumed ranges from a six-pack of beer or a four-pack of wine coolers to a pint of Jack Dan- iels whiskey or three-quarters of a bottle of vodka. 15