Melissa Hanson
Journal Contributor

The Suffolk University Peer Education Resource (SUPER) has created a fun and educational challenge program for all Suffolk’s students.  Stemming from a conference SUPER representatives Bridget Byrne and Jessica Paulin attended in Connecticut last spring, SPICES is making its way to Suffolk’s campus.  The title of the challenge stands for social, physical, intellectual, cultural, environmental, and spiritual, all areas of health and living in which the SUPERs feel college students should be educated.  Not only will SPICES be an instructive activity, but it will have something for everyone, including prizes at its conclusion.
SPICES will be an ongoing challenge for the next six weeks, with an activity every Friday night, starting September 16, at 10 West on the second floor.  Each week links with a letter of the acronym, and will collaborate with other Suffolk departments, in order to educate students in an enjoyable manner.  That being said, the first challenge, social, is “pour for your peers,” where students will be allowed to pour alcohol for their friends to discover the truth about serving sizes.   The next week will be the physical challenge, working with the athletic department, which includes a beer goggle race, not only to see the effects of excessive alcohol use, but also to display what attending practice drunk would be like for those who play on a Suffolk sports team. A condom race will show students that using protection is challenging when under the influence.  The third week of the SPICES challenge, will host an intellectual competition focused on Suffolk trivia, proving a great opportunity for students, especially freshman, to test their knowledge of the campus resources.   At the cultural contest, participants can assess their skills with the school’s diversity services.  During the environmental challenge, students will be a part of a taste test, to see if they can tell the difference between bottled water and Suffolk’s eco-friendly water.  The final challenge, spiritual, will be a race to match the holy days from all of the student’s religions to their dates on the calendar.
The SUPERs would like to see as many students as possible attending the challenges, where they plan to have large groups competing against one another.  Every time a student completes and does well in the challenges, tickets will be awarded to put towards the silent auction.
Other appeals to the SPICES activities include a free luncheon at the auction to students who were awarded tickets.  Also, during the events there will be free giveaways of small prizes and chances to sign up for other activities put on by the offices collaborating with SPICES.  The challenges will be a great way to socialize with other students and to test each other’s familiarity with wellness in a competitive environment.
We wanted to bring out weaknesses or strengths,” said SUPERS representative Jess Paulin, who, with her team, has put a large investment of work into planning these events.
“Oh yeah, you’re drunk on fun,” said freshman Nick Haddad in regards to participating in the beer goggle race. Matthew Vessella, also a freshman, said he would consider joining in on the condom competition, as it “sounds like a lot of fun, and it could be hilarious.”