University Police Officer 2-A Earl Thomas, far right, participated in "Hot Dog, You're Back"where the University Police Department partnered with the University Counseling Center to provide students with free hot dogs and water and educate them on safe alcohol consumption. Annie Goodman/The Lion's Roar

As part of the “Winter Welcome” festivities, the University Police Department and University Counseling Center teamed up to present “Hot Dog, You’re Back!” offering students free hot dogs and water and educating students on alcohol awareness.

University Police Officer 2-A Earl Thomas described his favorite part of the event as interacting with the students.

“‘Blue and You’ is a welcome back for students,” said Thomas. “It’s a part of welcome week with DSA, so we're just doing this campaign for the students. Show them we actually care about them, and we got some stuff going on for them.”

Mental Health Counselor at UCC Courtney Williams had a table set up to visually demonstrate alcohol content.

“We are teaching about alcohol awareness in conjunction with UPD’s ‘Hot Dog, You’re Back,’” said Williams. “We’re teaching students about alcohol content, learning what drink is how much alcohol, how alcohol can affect you on different levels and all that kind of stuff.”

Thomas feels community interaction is important for UPD and students. He explained the reason for organizing such an event.

“To get the students to know who we are and stuff like that,” said Thomas. “They are also learning the importance of alcohol with the counseling center.”

Williams explained UCC’s decision to partner with UPD because of the relations of alcohol and arrests.

“UPD probably has a lot of involvement with cases of alcohol, and we want students to be educated on what the effects are,” said Williams. “Not necessarily to not drink, but just to know what you are doing. If you do make that decision, be smart and be safe.”

Lauren Harris, a graduate student majoring in counseling was also at the table with Williams.

“It’s been really interesting to see how many students have come here and gotten involved,” said Harris. “Being able to have this hands-on table set up, has been really helpful. Some of the students have actually surprised us with how much knowledge they already have about drinking and how open they are to the education and learning what exactly is appropriate when you’re drinking and what it’s gonna look like based upon how many drinks you’ve had and the alcohol content in those drinks.”

Kayleigh Underwood, a graduate student majoring in counseling expressed the pleasure of interacting with students outside of the counseling offices.

“I just like the interaction,” said Underwood. “When we’re seeing clients in our offices, you’re in an office, no windows all day by yourself with your clients. It’s nice to get out and do these kind of things because you get to have interaction with the larger population, and it’s not as formal. It gets to be a lot of fun.”