-= NMSU PANORAMA - Summer 2005 =- Helping Students Make Smart Choices: Alumni Work to Prevent DWI

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Alumni Work to Prevent DWI

By Ellen Davis

For several NMSU alumni, preventing alcohol-related deaths has become their life's work.

Rachel O'Connor, a 1987 graduate who majored in government and sociology, was named Gov. Bill Richardson's first "DWI Czar" last year. New Mexico is the only state in the country to have a person appointed to such a position, and O'Connor hopes she can make the state a model for preventing deaths due to people driving while intoxicated.

"My job is to coordinate the response of all state agencies to DWI," O'Connor says.

O'Connor has helped start several new programs, including a "mobile strike unit" that travels around the state targeting establishments that serve underage drinkers or patrons who are intoxicated.

"New Mexico has a very young population, which means it is at high risk for heavy drinking," O'Connor says. "It is important to have programs in place to address this."

O'Connor says she became interested in working to prevent drunk driving after serving as executive director of the Brain Injury Association of New Mexico. Fifty percent of brain injuries are caused by alcohol.

Claudia Montoya, a 2004 graduate who majored in criminal justice, now works as the DWI coordinator for Luna County. Since starting the job in January, she has talked to more than 800 students in the county about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Montoya knows such dangers firsthand. Her brother, Louis, was killed by a drunk driver in 2002. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through because he was my best friend," she says.

Montoya competed for the Miss New Mexico title in June, using DWI as her platform.

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