Breckenridge Texan

By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

Breckenridge Junior High students gathered on the blacktop behind the school cafeteria Tuesday morning for a chance to glimpse how alcohol can impair their vision, coordination, motor skills and other abilities during a program hosted by the Stephens County Agrilife Extension Service.

JerriAnn Cornett, with the AgriLife Extension Service, left, oversees a Breckenridge Junior High student as she attempts to navigate around small objects while wearing goggles that simulate  drunkenness. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Donning “drunk goggles,” the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students attempted to walk a straight line, toss bean bags at a target, and navigate around small objects on the ground.

As they took a look through the eyewear specifically designed to simulate being at the blood alcohol content level for being legally drunk (.08%), most of the students reacted immediately: “Why is my body doing this?” “What the heck?” “Oh, gosh!”

Although the overall atmosphere during the drunk goggles program was lighthearted, with students struggling to walk straight or even give a “high five” to the presenters, most of the students walked away from the activity surprised by how much they were affected by the simulation.

The program was facilitated by Stephens County Extension Agent Sumer Russell; Edward Jimenez, a program coordinator with the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension’s Watch UR BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) campaign that teaches Texans about the dangers of misusing alcohol and other drugs; and JerriAnn Cornett, with the Extension service’s Disaster Assessment and Recovery program.

In addition to offering the kids a look through the goggles, the program also included a presentation in Bailey Auditorium about the dangers of illegal drugs, alcohol and vaping, focusing on impaired driving.

Edward Jimenez, a program coordinator with the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension’s Watch UR BAC campaign, left, talks to BJHS students as they attempt to walk a straight line while wearing “drunk goggles.” (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Jimenez said that junior high is a good age to start talking to kids about the dangers of abusing alcohol and drugs. “There’s a lot of curiosity with kids this age,” Jimenez said. “If we get a chance to tell them and to show them how drugs and alcohol affect them, you know, hopefully it makes them think. When those opportunities, when those temptations, or whatever you want to call them, present themselves to them and they (turn down offers of drugs or alcohol and) say,’I’m good. I’m good.’ And that’s the one thing we want them to say, ‘I’m good,’ because they know better.”

Jimenez said part of the program is giving the young people the words they need to turn down alcohol or drugs if they are offered such substances from their friends or others.

“Sometimes they don’t know what to what to say. They ask us, ‘How do I respond to this?'” he said.

Jimenez said he tells the students that there are many ways to say “no.”

Some of the examples of what they can said when offered, for example, an alcoholic drink, include:

• I’m good with what I have; I don’t need that.
• I have practice. I don’t want to do that.
• I’m in band. I don’t want to mess with that.

“We give them the tools to be able to take care of themselves, because they don’t know, they don’t really understand,” Jimenez said.  “Everything is new, everything’s fancy, everything’s cool. But we give them that idea that this is what it’s like, this is how it can affect you.”

But, the program isn’t just fun and games — tossing a bean bag while wearing “drunk goggles” — or a boring lecture with facts and statistics.

Jimenez brings a personal element to the anti-drinking and driving campaign. In 2006, he was driving his son and some neighbor children home from a swimming pool when they were hit by a drunk driver. Jimenez’s 7-year-old son and a 14-year-old neighbor were killed in the crash.

So, he shares that personal experience with the students to give them a first-hand account of how dangerous drinking and driving can be.

But, his interest in the topic goes back as far as high school, when one of his school projects was an anti-drunk driving commercial that he presented to the school.

AgriLife Extension will continue working with Breckenridge schools to bring related programs to the students, including the “When Sean Speaks” program later in the school year.

For more information about the Watch UR BAC program, click here to visit the program’s website. The program also has a Facebook page.

JerriAnn Cornett, left, and Sumer Russell, second from right, with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, let Porter Easter, second from left, and Wyatt Burns, Russell’s son, right, toss bean bags while wearing the “drunk goggles” as part of a recent anti-drinking and driving program. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Breckenridge Junior High students attempt to walk a straight line while wearing “drunk goggles” during a recent program at the school. Edward Jimenez, left, a program coordinator with the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension’s Watch UR BAC campaign, talked to the students about some of the effects of drinking alcohol and about the dangers of drinking and driving. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)