Administration encourages more communication between parents and students to limit underage drinking

Editor’s Note: Eddie is a pseudonym to protect the anonymity of the source.

It was already past 10 p.m. on Aug. 14 when Eddie, a rising junior, and a few others gathered at a friend’s house. They came after a birthday party to throw an “afterparty” — the host’s parents allowed underage drinking — and arrived at 10. There were girls there, too, Eddie recalls, and their group totalled around 10-12 people.

Someone brought a speaker, and over the blasting music, they drank beer and took shots of hard liquor.

Parties like this occur regularly, even as the school has tried to teach students about the dangers associated with drinking and drug use within their freshman health classes and in other ways such as administrative visits to classes and Red Ribbon week events.

According to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, in 2015, about 7.7 million Americans between the ages of 12-20, or roughly 20 percent of that age group, admitted to illegal alcohol consumption. The large number of teenagers who illegally drink raises concern over how to prevent dangerous situations when alcohol is involved.

“The best thing that we can do is to teach students about the risks and consequences of using drugs and alcohol,” guidance counselor Eileen Allen said. “The more students are well informed and educated about these risks, the more likely they are to make good decisions.”

By many standards, the party Eddie had attended was innocent enough at first. Things didn’t get messy, he said, until people started to leave.

“During the party, some people went insane and even wanted to run out of the house,” Eddie said. “But when we had to go home, most of us were too drunk.”

One of his friends had a curfew; his parents wanted him home, so he had to pretend he was sober. Another was able to stay at an acquaintance’s house until he was calm enough to go home.

Eddie, whose mother was away on a business trip, offered to take two of his friends back to his house to spend the night.

“It was super dark,” Eddie said, “and we were drunk driving and the defroster wasn’t working, so it was so hard to see.”

They managed to make it home safely before they, at last, fell asleep. He said they were relieved they hadn’t caused an accident or any deaths.

The drinking culture at nearby schools

At Monta Vista High School, just 15 minutes away, several students say that the party scene is similar to Saratoga’s. Many students drink at mixers or at houses when parents are out for a weekend, but most of the drinking is confined to partying within smaller groups. The same goes for students at Lynbrook High School.

One student at Lynbrook, however, mentioned that many students in the Cupertino area also attend events hosted by HS Mixers, a Cupertino-based company which, according to its website, aims to “provide students a middle ground between lame school dances and dangerous house parties” with a drug- and alcohol-free environment.

In comparison to other schools, Saratoga’s party culture may not be huge, considering the academic nature of the school, and students say they are aware of the possible consequences that come when someone does decide to throw a party where alcohol is served.

Many are still troubled by the tragic suicide of then-sophomore Audrie Pott in the fall of 2012, who was sexually assaulted at a party at a house with a large presence of alcohol. Students interviewed for this story said the party culture seems to be contained to a fairly small population within the school.

Junior Crystal Sun said that there seems to be a common denominator among those who party. From what she has seen, “very outgoing and sociable people” with larger friend groups tend to join the party scene.

As far as most of the non-partying students are aware, the parties are usually under control and safe.

“I only hear about parties once in awhile,” senior Samay Garg said. “I’m not sure if that’s because I’m out of the loop or because they’re not happening, but I don’t think the partying is at a dangerous level.”

To assistant principal Brian Safine, however, unsupervised parties are still problematic, no matter how rare they are. When parents fail to communicate with their children or with one another, it causes many of the problems associated with party culture, such as easy access to alcoholic beverages.

“We always want to encourage communication,” Safine said, “so we can avoid situations where a parent might think their son is going one place at night, whereas, in fact, they’re really going somewhere else, potentially unsupervised.”

Eddie said he agrees communication is an issue, but that the administration’s and health class’s efforts to prevent drinking at parties have been ineffective thus far.

“Health class is boring,” Eddie said, “and nobody really does anything like drinking until junior or late sophomore year.”

Personally, Eddie said he wants to hear more from speakers who have dealt firsthand with the negative aftereffects of binge drinking. He would like to see the health class moved to sophomore or junior year, when students are better able to connect their personal experiences to the class lessons.

Eddie said that the health classes place great emphasis on de-stigmatizing mental health illnesses, but because the majority of the student population does not engage in partying, the lessons regarding dangers of alcohol are not taken as seriously as intended.  

For instance, Eddie remembers that once he and his friends arrived back at his house from his first ever afterparty, one friend passed out on his sofa and began vomiting.

The experience was “scarring,” Eddie said.

“That reminded me of that guy who came in and talked about how his friend died because he choked on vomit,” he said. “Those things really affect you — I don’t really remember anything else from the party.”

The incident hasn’t stopped Eddie from drinking altogether, but now he says he “never goes hard drinking.”

Ultimately, Eddie sees the use of alcohol as a byproduct of the students’ efforts to escape from the stress of schoolwork.

“I honestly party just for fun and to get away from school,” he said. “It’s not for the drinking — it’s more for a good time.”