An alcohol poisoning awareness program started in memory of Cal Poly freshman, Carson Starkey, will be expanded to all 23 California State Universities. This nonprofit program will teach students how to recognize and respond to alcohol poisoning when they see it. The Aware Awake Alive program was introduced to Cal Poly in 2011 by the Starkey family. The Starkeys support a peer-to-peer method to give students information about alcohol poisoning prevention because they “didn’t want to preach to students”. Although little data exists about how effective the program has been at Cal Poly, the University of Michigan’s Healthy Minds Study found that Cal Poly students intervene in binge drinking incidents at a rate of more than 43 percent, 9 percent above the national average.

Click the image below to visit the Aware Awake Alive website and to learn more about Carson’s story.

The website provides people with many informational resources such as signs of alcohol poisoning, blood alcohol concentration, resources for parents, Good Samaritan information, and more.
To read more about the CSU program, click here.