For the 16th consecutive year, the University of West Georgia’s Health Services department has been awarded a grant by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

The Young Adult Program grant allows Health Services to utilize trained peer educators to bring awareness to highway safety issues, including underage drinking, alcohol abuse, addiction and impaired or distracted driving.

The long-term goals of the GOHS programs are to promote safer, healthy campus environments while educating and empowering students to make healthy life choices.

Educational objectives are accomplished through lectures, interactive classes and activities such as providing the Arrive Alive driving simulator for students to actually experience impaired driving firsthand. This award also includes funding that will allow a health educator and two UWG students who serve as peer educators to attend the National Bacchus Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Programming is provided through the collaborative efforts of many UWG offices and is coordinated by Ron King, lead health educator responsible for alcohol education and adviser to the UWG Peer Educators. King’s team is also available to do presentations in local area high schools.

The grant runs from Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019.