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Jordan Sharps

Dr. Wynne

ENG 330

4/11/19

Reflection Essay: The Dangers of Underage Drinking in America

Underage drinking is a serious problem that is plaguing young Americans today. I

thought that it was necessary to explore this topic and give my audience facts and statistics on it

as well. People in general should be aware of how much they drink, but to be more specific,

young adults need to be aware of the dangers of drinking period. Underage drinking can lead to

an individual being arrested and even worse, death (alcohol poisoning). The overall goal for this

piece is to prevent these things from happening.

Being an of age and responsible drinker, I would like to express to the youth the

importance of being responsible with drinking once they reach the legal age of twenty-one.

Many teenagers in America drink illegally and this is sadly true for the most part. Some may be

peer pressured into drinking or some may have a strong desire to start drinking on their own

accord. Regardless, underage drinking is wrong and shouldn’t be such a big problem in America.

I’ve personally been pressured to drink all throughout my high school career and part of my

college career, but I never gave in. I waited until I was twenty-one to drink and it was one of the

best decisions I’ve ever made.

Given my family background and history, I made a conscious decision to only drink in

moderation. My family has a negative reputation with drinking, and I didn’t and still don’t want
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to be a part of that reputation. Despite the problems a few of my family members have with

drinking, they still try their best to get better. Along with this, they stress to me the importance of

drinking in moderation and waiting until you’re of age to begin drinking. My older cousin really

stressed to me how it’s important to drink carefully and responsibly because of an experience he

had with drinking in his freshman year of college.

In his first semester of college, my cousin went out drinking with his friends on a Friday

night. Keep in mind, my cousin hasn’t had much experience with drinking (being that he was 18

years old at the time) and he didn’t know his “friends” for a long time as well. Progressively

throughout the night, he would drink more and more alcohol. He ended up getting drunk and

eventually was at the point where he couldn’t even stand properly. He had consumed too much

alcohol and unfortunately passed out outside in the middle of campus. He woke up in the

hospital confused and wondered where his friends had gone. Two campus police officers had

found him laid out across the ground on the verge of dying. If the cops had not found him sooner

and got him to a hospital, he quite possibly could’ve died. My cousin told me that he never saw

his “friends” again after this incident. Because of his decision to drink and overconsume alcohol,

he was kicked out of college. He told me this story so that I wouldn’t make the same mistake that

he did in college.

Stories such as my cousin’s happen all across America with young adults. Let this be an

example for why not to drink if you’re underage. My cousin nearly died and got lucky enough to

not get arrested. Unfortunately, he was kicked out of college for this. The point of this

infographic was to really inform young audiences on the dangers of drinking so that they don’t

end up in trouble or dead. At the end of the day, it only takes one bad decision to ruin your life or

end it as well.