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Oglethorpe University Receives $5,000 Grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety

(Atlanta, December 9, 2014) – Oglethorpe University has been awarded a $5,000 grant to participate in the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) Georgia Young Adult Program. This is the sixth consecutive year Oglethorpe has received this grant.

In an effort to reduce the number of young adult driver crashes, injuries and fatalities, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety partners with colleges and universities throughout the state to implement the Georgia Young Adult Program (GYAP). This program has proven to be successful, using strategies such as peer education, providing educational speakers to schools, and encouraging schools to develop creative, innovative techniques to reduce young adult crashes, injuries and fatalities in their communities.

“The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is committed to keeping everyone safe on our roads and highways from the smallest precious cargo to the most seasoned drivers,” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood.

At Oglethorpe University‚ the emphasis will be on social norming of healthy‚ positive behaviors that will reduce the risk of death or injury from car crashes on our highways.

“We hope our efforts will help make a significant contribution to the safety of not only Oglethorpe students‚ but also the safety of our friends‚ family and neighbors in the Brookhaven community and beyond,” said Leanne Henry-Miller, director of counseling services.

The funding will help purchase specific alcohol peer health education training workbooks and an online training program that provides incoming students with tools to confront and prevent serious problems related to the use of alcohol. The grant also will help finance incentive items for first week of school activities, National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week and to promote spring break safety. Finally, the funding will help current peer educators to coordinate and host underage drinking and impaired driving prevention programs.

The grant runs October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015.

About Oglethorpe University
Founded in 1835, Oglethorpe is Atlanta’s liberal arts and sciences university of 1100 students representing 34 states and 28 countries. Renowned for its groundbreaking Core program, Oglethorpe is a member of the Annapolis Group, comprised of America’s most selective liberal arts institutions, and has been named among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges, Forbes’ America’s Best Colleges, and Princeton Review’s Best Southeastern Colleges. Oglethorpe is home to the Atlanta Laboratory for Learning (A_LAB), an incubator for students’ real-world experiential learning through civic engagement, global education, professional development, and undergraduate research. Oglethorpe is the only Georgia university to be named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for commitment to and achievement in community service since 2006. In 2014, Oglethorpe opened GO: Rome, a summer study center in Italy, following two strategic partnerships in 2012 with study abroad provider Global LEAD and EF (Education First), the world leader in international education. EF’s Atlanta headquarters is located on Oglethorpe’s campus, also home to the OU Museum of Art and Georgia Shakespeare, a professional theatre-in-residence. The Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels compete in the NCAA Division III Southern Athletic Association. Website: www.oglethorpe.edu

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