Spring Break Heartbreak

This morning, ABC News released an Associated Press report detailing the death of a talented high school football player who fell over a hotel balcony while on Spring Break in Florida on Friday, April 2nd, 2010. Though it has been suggested that alcohol may have been involved, toxicology reports have yet to confirm this part of the story.

But a teenager dying on Spring Break is not a new story. In fact, a college boy died the same way in the same town just a few weeks ago. ESPN.com reported that “Brandon Kohler, a 19-year-old from Winder, Ga., died March 24 when he fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the Holiday Terrace Motel in Panama City Beach.”

Every year, college and high school students make the trek south to find fun in the sun.

Having been a high school youth worker, cheerleading coach, and parent of a teenage boy, I assure you that the Spring Break discussion hits every home in the same way. There is pressure on students to want to go away and be with friends without supervision. There is pressure on parents and administration to address “in one accord”, a variety of concerns: safety, values and morals, as well as parental peer pressure. Believe me, it is incredibly difficult to say “no” to your kid when other parents are saying, “yes.” The angst and tension is palpable—and you feel as if the pressure-filled days and decisions in the teenage years will never end.

Truthfully, it is hard to be a teenager who doesn’t drink. It’s popular to drink. But it is also dangerous, illegal if you are underage, and sometimes deadly.

Because I was an alcoholic in high school, as a cheerleader and an athlete, ultimately dropping out of college because of drugs and alcohol, I am still (thirty years later) involved in this discussion with today’s parents, administration and students.

Any and every adult can make a little change that will have a big result in a teenager’s life. You can encourage sobriety—talk about it with friends, family, and neighbors who have teenagers. Offer to organize alternative activities—everything from bowling to attending major league ball games as a group. Open your vacation home to the kids and families in your circle of friends to play with the toys you can afford (and perhaps they cannot). Make clean fun popular. You could save a life.

And for a little change that you can make today that will have a big result in someone else’s life, say a prayer for the family, campus and community of the young football player. They are in pain and prayer brings comfort.

Be encouraged to change your life and make a difference in young person's life,

Becky