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Ashley Barfield

Project Narrative: 4/20 Painting Party

Ashley Barfield

Georgia College and State University

KINS 4306: Internship in Public Health

Dr. Ernie Kaninjing

April 24, 2022

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Ashley Barfield

Introduction

My internship is at the Georgia College Office of Health Promotion. I am working for

Rachel Pope at the Georgia College Wellness and Recreation Center this semester. The mission

of the Office of Health Promotion is to create a safe and healthy environment for college students

by offering health education programs, events and activities. Students that go into college are

experiencing a transitioning stage from childhood to adulthood. Many of them are learning how

to take care of themselves. Our mission is to give them the knowledge and tools they need to

take control of their own health and form healthy habits that will follow them through adulthood.

I am working another intern, Emilia Richter, and our job is to plan fun and educational events on

campus that help teach our peers about the health issues most college students are facing at this

time in their life.

Purpose of Event

For my project, I planned a 4/20 Painting Party with Emilia where students can take time

to paint a pot or a reusable tote bag. It took place on April 20th which is a national holiday known

as “Pot Day”. On April 20th, many Americans will use this day as an excuse to gather and smoke

marijuana with their friends. 39 percent of Georgia College students reported the nonmedical use

of cannabis (marijuana, weed, hash, edibles, vaped cannabis, etc.) according to the GC NCHA

data in 2021, which surveyed 18% of GC students. College students are more likely to abuse

alcohol and drugs when they are stressed. 77 percent of Georgia College students experienced

moderate and high levels of stress within the last 12 months (GC NCHA, 2021). Finals are

coming up and students need an outlet to their stress. Emilia and I felt a need to create a mental

health outlet on April 20th that would educate students on the harmful effects of mixing alcohol

and drugs, while also alternative promoting methods of reducing stress.

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The purpose of this event is to promote a mental health outlet by providing an alternative

event to alcohol and drugs where students can take a mental health break right before finals.

Students can come take a break and paint a pot or reusable tote bags that will help the

environment. This will give them an outlet for their stress that does not involve abusing

substances. We provided succulents that students could plant in their pot after they painted it.

The plan for painting pots was to play on the idea of ‘pot day’ for 4/20 and give them an

alternative relaxing activity to celebrate pot day instead of smoking pot. We provided snacks and

drinks for the event from Sodexo. Wine and cheese are popular painting refreshments. Instead,

we provided welches non-alcoholic sparkling juice as an alternative.

Event Outcome

I had three goals for this event; (a) to provide an outlet for stress for students and connect

them to mental health resources, (b) to have at least 100 students participate in a fun event that

connected them to other students and foster a community and (c) to educate students about the

dangers of mixing drugs and alcohol by providing educational materials and activities. We had

105 students participate in our event. I met all three of my goals and this was the most

participated event that we had planned all semester. People would walk by and see their peers

enjoying the event and join in on the fun. Students would sit down by people they did not know

and get to know each other. We brought together a community and provided them a healthy

opportunity to relieve their stress.

Materials Provided

I provided a flyer with ways to relieve stress on the front along with a website that

connected them to mental health resources. On the back of the flyer was information on the

dangers of mixing drugs and alcohol. We brought impairment goggles and puzzles for them to
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Ashley Barfield

solve with the goggles on. Additionally, we provided a Sum It Up Cup activity where students

can pour a serving of wine, beer, and a shot and we can demonstrate the accurate serving sizes. I

provided Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) cards to individually show them the amount of drinks

they can have to stay in the safe zone of their BAC based on their gender and weight. It will tell

them how many drinks they can have per hour to stay inside a safe limit based on their body

weight.

Recommendations

If I could do things differently, I would have made the event bigger and longer. We had

students show up 30 minutes early to the event and had to turn away students at the end because

we ran out of supplies. I would also involve student housing next time. Student housing has

unlimited funding and can advertise their events to many more students. Students living on

campus are mostly freshman. These are the students who are struggling most with transitioning

into college. They do not know how to make safer drinking choices. Finally, I would provide

sunscreen at the event. It was a sunny day and I know many people got sunburnt from sitting in

the hot sun for hours, including myself.

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Ashley Barfield

Resources

American College Health Association, (2021). National College Health Assessment II: Georgia

College executive summary.