Student Perceptions of the Chemawa Alcohol Education Center

Abstract

This paper was a study of the student perceptions of the Chemawa Alcohol Education Center at Chemawa Indian School including a review of the literature on adolescent drinking, Indian youth in particular.Students who entered the.CAEC building during the week of November 14 21, 1972, were individually interviewed to determine the demographfc data on the student population, patterns of participation, and student ideas about the CAEC program. It was discovered that students inter viewed prefer this year's program over last year's, that students brought in for drinking violations were more involved in the counsel ing aspects of the program, and that the student group interviewed did indeed have need for a special kind of alcohol education center. The findings were inconclusive that students had ideas for significant change in the program, that the outreach of the CAEC counselors was the most important means of advertising for the program, and that there was a difference in program use by the Northwest and Alaskan students at Chemawa.