Teen drinking has been front-page news this past week. “Outback event shut down due to drunken youths,” “Teen Drinking: Police shut down dance at the Outback,” and “Intoxicated teens shut down Outback dance” are headlines from the New Canaan Advertiser, New Canaan Patch, and New Canaan News, respectively, used to comment on the annual Rave Outback dance hosted by the YMCA “youth leaders” as well as the Outback Student Governing Board (SGB).
This year was the third year the CAPT week Rave took place on a school night, and only juniors and seniors were eligible to attend since they would not be taking the CAPT tests with the sophomores the following morning.
New Canaan Patch ran an original story stating that “a large number of intoxicated youths” were at the Rave according to the police. It was later clarified at 4:10 the same day, in a letter from the Outback Board of Directors co-President Connie Piotroski that stated that some of the information provided by the police as well as some information on the Outback website was inaccurate. Her letter separated the Outback’s statement from the one given by the police. “Piotroski told Patch that six students were intoxicated at the dance. Police had reported that a “large number of intoxicated youths” were on the premises of the Outback.
According to Ms. Piotroski in a statement in the Advertiser, the center’s normal safety procedures had been followed, which included a series of “checkpoints” where attendees must speak to staff to determine if the youth’s were intoxicated. However, since a “large number of intoxicated youths” made their way into the Outback, it is clear that there was a huge breach in the security system, and if you ask anyone who was there, more than six people were drunk.
The terms “drunken youths” and “intoxicated teens shut down outback dance” play to the typical adult stereotypes that we, New Canaan teenagers, are a bunch of derelicts that can’t be trusted. But where does the responsibility actually fall for the consequences of this event? It certainly shouldn’t all be placed on the teens. What about the school, Outback, or the parents?
How about the marquee event of March at NCHS, The Drowsy Chaperone? Throughout the play there are references to drinking, using “ice water” as a code word for vodka, and the main character, the Drowsy Chaperone, appears to be drunk the entire play. There is nothing wrong with the Drama Department performing this play. We can all assume that the “vodka” they all were drinking was water, and the characters they were impersonating we all of legal age to drink. However, since the play came out the week after the Rave incident, it seems funny and ironic that the advertisements the Drama Department put out to advertise the show, also advertised drinking right in the lobby of our school. It isn’t ok for there to be “a large number of intoxicated youths” at a Outback dance, yet it is ok for there to be a three-foot martini glass in the lobby, and life-size posters of the leads with blurbs that say “Champagne makes me drowsy but “The Drowsy Chaperone” will have you rolling in the aisles!” How can adults criticize the kids that attended the Outback dance, when there is advertisement and endorsement of alcohol in the lobby of which they attend school?
The Outback says their mission statement that they are “dedicated to providing a positive and enriching environment in New Canaan where teens are able to relax, socialize, participate in self-directed activities, and have an opportunity to contribute to the community.” Their security system failed to catch the majority of drunk kids, and the idea of hosting a dance on a school night should have been a red flag that kids were going to try to drink for the event, just as they would if the event was held on a Friday or Saturday. Why was the security so lax, without their recognition or acknowledgement?
As newspapers reported on the events at the outback, parents were shocked. But why? How did “a large number of intoxicated youths” get into that state? If you are not 21 you can’t buy alcohol, and while we aren’t suggesting that parents bought for their kids, they are getting it somehow undetected. Where did the kids drink before the event? It shouldn’t be parents’ responsibility to babysit 16,17, and 18 year olds to a point where you know their every move when the majority of which will be leaving the house in 3 months to a year.
So if New Canaan wants to tackle the issue of teen drinking, stop sending mixed messages. Underage drinking is a issue every generation of teenager has had to deal with, and next time something like this happens, let’s be prepared to point more than one finger.
