The Stay Dry initiative, sponsored by the Mississippi Coalition of Partners in Prevention, held a T-shirt competition that was open to all residence halls on campus.
The end of the competition on Wednesday coincides with the National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.
The winning residence hall, Hull Hall, had its shirts made and will also receive a pizza party next week.
The winning T-shirt design contains the Mississippi State University alcohol policy and binge drinking statistics to show students under 21 years of age the dangers of alcohol use and abuse.
Danielle Camp, sophomore art major with a concentration in graphic design and drawing, designed the T-shirt for Hull Hall.  Camp said she received a few ideas from her friends on the design of the shirt, but she designed it on her own.
“It didn’t take too long to make,” Camp said. “It took about two days of work, off and on, to do.”
Camp said the Stay Dry initiative was a good program and she believed a lot of effort was put into it.
Dennis Hoyle, graduate student of business administration and resident director of Hull Hall, said he was happy for Camp, a talented artist.
Hoyle also said he was thrilled that Hull Hall could be a part of the Stay Dry initiative.
“I hope [the T-shirt design] helps the initiative and gets the message out,” he said.
The Mississippi Coalition of Partners in Prevention received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The coalition consists of MSU, The University of Mississippi and Mississippi University for Women.
April Heiselt, assistant professor of counseling and educational psychology, said MSU initiated the grant and contacted UM and MUW.
“Each university, in turn, brought community, nonprofit agencies on board to further build the coalition,” she said.
Although MSU receives funding from the grant, the university also receives aid from on-campus organizations and has built a campus-to-community coalition.
“This includes off-campus community members like MADD and MAUDD, our merchants and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership,” she said. “Our on-campus support [comes] from the departments of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs. We could not do this without their help.”
Michelle LaFleur, graduate student in counselor education and graduate assistant in health, education and wellness, said there are two goals for the grant.
“We work toward two objectives: to demonstrate a reduction in 30-day alcohol use among underage students and to demonstrate a reduction in 30-day binge drinking among underage students,” she said.
The T-shirts created by Camp were distributed to the residents of Hull Hall.  Heiselt said a group known as Watch Dawgs would also wear the shirts.
“It is a group of students who want their friends to be safe, healthy and to stay legal. The Watch Dawgs will sponsor ‘Stay Dry’ events and will be a community of peers to provide information to other students. Currently, we are gathering student members for the group,” she said.
John MacArthur, graduate student of experimental social psychology and graduate assistant in health and wellness, said he was excited about the shirts.
“We are trying to get the logo and info out there. College students rarely hear about the dangers of drinking. We are trying to cause a lot of change before any deaths occur,” he said.
For information about the Stay Dry initiative or the Mississippi Coalition of Partners in Prevention, go to under21staydry.com. For more information about the Watch Dawgs group, contact LaFleur at [email protected].