Freaks – A New Program for Student Life and Success

Objective: FREAKS (Finding Responsible and Entertaining Activities on KampuS) is a new student involvement program designed and implemented with the intent of reducing health risk behavior of students by increasing their critical thinking ability. Program goals were to improve student quality of life and increase student retention and graduation rates. The purpose of this preliminary program evaluation was to determine if any of the goals were indicating a positive direction after an eight month intervention. Materials and Method: Twenty-two students were administered health-risk behavior (CDC-YRBS) and critical thinking (Watson-Glaser II) questionnaires. Results: Significant reduction in risk-taking behaviors (driving after drinking, 30-day alcohol use, binge drinking, and length of time spent watching television) and significantly improved critical thinking measures (recognizing assumptions and drawing conclusions) were identified. Conclusion: These data suggest preliminary effectiveness of the FREAKS program for reducing key health-risk behaviors associated with decreased academic performance and college dropout rates. Due to methodological limitations, further examination of effect is warranted.