Beer pong tournaments, margaritas on the rocks and shots of Bacardi are just a few items on this spring break’s agenda for EC students. Which may include fun-filled destinations like Palm Springs and Lake Havasu, or for those not wanting to travel far, Hermosa Beach.
While some students believe that spring break is just an excuse to go wild and drink excessively, others treat the break as a relaxing seven days of school-free fun.
Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: temptations run wild during a week off of school.
Although Stephanie Ayala, 20, undecided major, considers herself not the type of person who drinks to excess, she has been looking forward to spring break 2010 so she can celebrate her 21st birthday, which falls on the first Saturday of the break. She plans on spending it by “raging with her friends.”
“All year I have been planning how I want to spend my 21st birthday,” Ayala said. “What better way to celebrate it then with your best girlfriends in Palm Springs and a hotel room full of Jell-O shots and Bacardi?”
Flavored shots have become a popular means of consuming alcohol and because of its appealing taste students can easily become more inebriated than they originally intended.
“Jell-O have definitely become a new favorite of mine when partying,” Mark Hernandez, 20, photography major said.
Unlike drinkers who abuse alcohol regularly, students like Ayala, who preserve their “inner wild side” until an opportunity like spring break, are more likely to enjoy their drunken nights and treat them as if they were sacred.
“Every spring break my close friends and I all go out to Lake Havasu and have a great time drinking on my family’s boat,” Kim Bradford, 22, English major, said. “It’s really the only chance I have to get as drunk as I want and not have to worry about school.”
Matt Molina, 21, undecided major, believes that not drinking alcohol is a simple way to avoid any regrets involved with being intoxicated.
Molina has learned this through his friends who are unable to control their drinking habits.
“I have quite a few friends who are 19 and 20 that party on school nights and to me that’s wasting precious time doing something destructive,” Molina said.
According to a statistic from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by people under the age of 21 occurs during binge drinking.
“You wouldn’t believe how many phone calls I’ve gotten in the middle of the night with a wasted friend on the other line slurring ‘I need you to pick me up because I’m too wasted to drive’ I don’t know why they can’t wait till they’re 21 or even wait until school is out?”
Besides the potential for a DUI, the CDC lists many other consequences of binge drinking including a higher risk of STDs, unintended pregnancy, and neurological injuries.
For Brian Jolsen, 24, business major, activities such as bike riding and bowling suit his needs for having fun during the break.
“Alcohol does not do it for me anymore,” Jolsen said. “This spring break I plan to do some late night bike rides with friends and try to fit some midnight bowling in. I haven’t done either in a good while.”
For those who are unable to leave the South Bay for the week, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach serve as a prime spot for those drunken late nights by the water with its plethora of bars and 24 hour restaurants, Tyler Bozeman, 19, music major, said.
Bozeman, who is a Hermosa Beach resident, is amused at the sight of young

“bar-hoppers” stumbling from Poopdeck to Patrick Malloy’s in search of more booze.
Since the nightlife has increased in recent years due to the popularity of sports bars and clubs, many bars are remaining opening till almost 1 or sometimes 2 a.m., where as 30 years ago bars were closing around 11 p.m., coach John Featherstone said.
“I think I’m spending my spring break nights skating on the Hermosa strand and watching the drunks walk by,”
Bozeman said. “But I know that when I turn 21 though I’m going to be doing the same thing that they’re doing.”
“Spring break is the time to go out at night and party without having to worry about being in class the next morning,” Hernandez said.
Classes at EC start as early as 7 a.m. and this time off allows students enough time to unwind.
“This break is something I really needed,” Hernandez said.