THE COLLEGE RE-EDUCATION –
Feb. 10, 2021 – Angela Armstrong-Ingram, a first-year graduate student of anthropology, became a member of Aggies for Recovery at the beginning of this academic year. Armstrong-Ingram stated that the organization’s meetings have had to adjust since moving to an online platform.
“Every week a group of students and a counselor meet on Zoom and we check in with one another,” Armstrong-Ingram said. “We are there to support each other through our individual paths of recovery. Everyone has their own goals, and we are a community that share those similar goals and help each other achieve them.”
Armstrong-Ingram struggled with alcohol addiction during her time as an undergraduate student at UC Davis. She stated that college culture as it is portrayed in the media played a role in enabling her alcoholism.
“Pop culture has ingrained this idea that college has to be a place where you are constantly partying to have fun,” Armstrong-Ingram said. “And there is that quote that goes, ‘It’s not considered alcoholism until you graduate,’ but I think alcohol addiction can be a problem no matter what stage of life you are in.”
According to her, alcohol functions as a social lubricant for many college students to help settle into the changes of university life.
“When you are a freshman coming into college, it’s normal to feel like alcohol can help you be someone who is more social, fun or attractive,” Armstrong-Ingram said. “But when you take it too far it’s easy to lose sight of the line between having fun and having an addiction, and it’s easy to miss out on the opportunities and education that college provides.”
