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Class Action
Class Action is an eight to ten session classroom curriculum for high school students. Underage drinking is presented as a communitywide problem, giving students the opportunity to debate the legal intricacies of alcohol – related cases involving teenagers. Class Action emphasizes broader social and legal consequences of underage drinking, rather than the usual sole focus on individual responsibility. Each classroom is divided into five or six legal teams who argue hypothetical civil cases. The cases involve personal injury or property damage resulting from six different scenarios: drinking and driving, fetal alcohol syndrome, violence and server liability, date rape, vandalism and server liability, and the enforcement of school alcohol policies for athletes. Each team researches the topic and presents arguments to the class. The class, in turn, serves as the jury and renders a verdict.
2010 Pelahatchie High School Students
On Monday, November 8, 2010, at 10:00 a.m., twelve students from Pelahatchie High School will be presenting mock civil cases involving underage drinking to the Honorable Judge Thomas H. Broome, Rankin County Youth Court Judge. These twelve students have completed an 8 hour course in Project Northland’s Class Action, a nationally known high school alcohol use prevention curriculum.
Funded by a grant through Mississippi Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition (MUDPC) of Madison and Rankin Counties, and administered by staff from DREAM, Inc., these twelve students, divided into two teams of 6 students each, are to present their cases to Judge Broome regarding the consequences of “Drinking and Driving” and the relationship between “Drinking and Violence”. Each student is required to play the role of a plaintiff’s attorney in a mock civil case involving underage alcohol consumption. Each student completes one of six tasks: 1) Proving Responsibility; 2) Proving a Failure to Meet Responsibility; 3) Presenting Evidence of Damages; 4) Proving Causation; 5) Presenting Expert Testimony; and 6) Rebuttal to the Defense Argument.
Project Northland’s Class Action program is based on a social-influences model for alcohol prevention. The program emphasizes the social and legal consequences of alcohol use and works toward meeting one of Project Northland’s strategies for high school students—increasing awareness of the social availability and social consequences of consuming alcohol when underage. Class Action is designed to broaden students’ knowledge and perspectives beyond personal opinions and beliefs by requiring them to consider how state laws and legal precedents in other cases can be used in civil lawsuits brought by people who have been harmed by underage drinking.
MUDPC is presenting Class Action to students in Pelahatchie and Richland High Schools for the 2010-2011 school year. Previous schools participating have been McLaurin High School and Northwest Rankin High School.
Judge Thomas Broome
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Project Sticker Shock 2011
Students from Project Sticker Shock
The Mississippi Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition (MUDPC) of Madison and Rankin Counties, a collaboration between DREAM, Inc., and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence of Central Mississippi, are implemented Project Sticker Shock during the month of April, in conjunction with the statewide underage drinking task force, Mississippians Advocating Against Underage Drinking (MAAUD). This project is being funded in part or in whole by the Mississippi Department of Health, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month and Project Sticker Shock is an awareness campaign intended to remind adults (those 21 and older) that it is illegal to purchase alcohol for minors. MAAUD has created a message on small stickers and, with the cooperation of local alcohol retail outlets and MUDPC members, teens in Rankin County will place the stickers on multi-packs of alcohol. Adults will be present to supervise the students. Involving the retailers also encourages health partnerships between the store owner/managers and our community groups.
The teens from Northwest Rankin High School visited Wal-Mart Supercenter at 5341 Hwy. 25, Flowood, MS 39232 on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
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MUDPC Youth Coalition - 2011
On January 25, 2011, youth from throughout Madison and Rankin Counties met for our "kick-off" MUDPC Youth Coalition Meeting.
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TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) is the global leader in education and training for the responsible service, sale, and consumption of alcohol. Proven effective by third-party studies, TIPS is a skills-based training program that is designed to prevent intoxication, underage drinking, and drunk driving.
There are over three million certified individuals across the United States. Now the Mississippi Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition of Madison and Rankin Counties and DREAM, Inc.® have certified individuals who will begin in May helping on-premise and off-premise servers in Rankin County to train their personnel on responsible beverage service and sales.
For more information, go to www.gettips.com.
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