UMC Golden Eagle News Archive:
June 6, 2006 - July 1, 2009

Don Cavalier, director of Career and Counseling Services and Stephanie Helgeson, director of athletics.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is awarding the University of Minnesota, Crookston the NCAA CHOICES grant for $30,000. The grant funding will establish the Golden Eagle Positive CHOICES program on the Crookston campus.  The goal of the program is to encourage and engage students in positive choices that result in better performance academically and athletically while educating and integrating athletics into campus-wide efforts to reduce alcohol use and help all students make choices that are legal, healthy, appropriate, and safe.

According to Don Cavalier, director of Career and Counseling Services which includes the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention Program at the U of M, Crookston, the grant will run from 2009-2011. The grant writing was a joint effort by Cavalier; Stephanie Helgeson, director of athletics; Natasha Kuhle, assistant director of athletics; Associate Professor David DeMuth, Jr., Ph.D., who serves as the grant’s principal investigator;  and Elizabeth Tollefson, assistant director of

Grant writing team (l to r) seated: Stephanie Helgeson and Natasha Kuhle; standing: Don Cavalier, Elizabeth Tollefson, and David DeMuth, Jr., Ph.D.

communications.

Through the CHOICES program, the NCAA provides funding for NCAA member institutions and conferences to integrate athletics into campus-wide efforts to reduce alcohol abuse. CHOICES projects must partner athletic with other campus partners in the development and implementation of effective alcohol-education projects on college campuses.

The NCAA chose the theme "CHOICES" because college students are confronted with a variety of choices on a daily basis, some of which have lasting effects on their lives. To learn more, visit www.ncaa.org.

Today the University of Minnesota, Crookston delivers more than 25 applied-science undergraduate degree programs and 50 concentrations, including several online degrees, in agriculture; arts, humanities and social sciences; business; math, science and technology; and natural resources. To learn more, visit www.UMCrookston.edu.