Editor’s note: This is the last story in a six-part series exploring the drinking culture in State College. This installment follows an alcohol educator and what she does to help alcohol-abusive students.

When Diana Ramos arrives on campus in the morning, she knows she is taking on the responsibility of an absent parent.

She tells herself that there's 45,000 students on Penn State's campus, and 45,000 parents not here.

It's a big responsibility, but it's something Ramos puts her all into.

"I have to. I feel I owe it to the parents, because I would expect the same for my children," she said.

Her experiences of being a mother and of once being a college student help her relate to her field, where she works as a community health educator in the Health Promotion and Education department of the University Health Services.

The department provides educational programs for alcohol, marijuana and tobacco abuse. Ramos said her department deals with a lot of students cited for public drunkenness, underage drinking and being in the presence of alcohol.

She added that most students who drink, drink responsibly, but those who drink dangerously usually fit certain characteristics "These students look something like freshmen. More men than girls. They're between 18 and 20," she said, adding that the typical dangerous drinker is sometimes found unconscious and sent to the emergency room.

Ramos said in the fall semester, 150 students were sent to Mount Nittany Medical Center for alcohol-related issues. Ramos first gets a report on which students are taken to the emergency room; from there, she contacts the students and hopes for an answer back.

About 35 percent of the students might respond back to the letters and about 10 percent might answer their phones, Ramos said.

During the phone conversation, students are asked a series of questions to see if they need further help. If they do need additional help, recommendations will be made for the student to seek help from Counseling and Psychological Services, but very few students contacted seek additional help, Ramos said. For most students, going to the emergency room is an isolated incident and more than half of the students are not directly sanctioned, she added.

"We can never force them into a program," she added.

However, the alcohol intervention programs through the department are for students sanctioned by the police and mandated by the Office of Judicial Affairs, Residence Life and/or the Centre County Magistrate. Those students take an online assessment and are placed in either group workshops or individual sessions for alcohol education.

In the fall of 2006, about 477 students went through the alcohol education programs.

Because perception is learned through socialization, students' attitudes toward drinking can't be changed overnight, Ramos said. That's something she advises for those conducting the programs.

"You can't blame them, because its part of society," she said.

A year ago, a student came into her office "reeking of alcohol," Ramos said. He had 13 shots in three hours the night prior, was found unconscious and taken to the Mount Nittany Medical Center, where the physicians told him to seek help, she said.

"The poor student looked like he had a really bad night," she recalled.

She said they had an hour conversation discussing the health risks and blood alcohol concentration. And she never heard from or about him again.

Penn State University Police Supervisor Jason Zajac said education is more of an eye opener for students, instead of just slapping a student with a fine.

Ramos said the department is planning on starting follow-up evaluations to see how effective the programs are.

Student interactions touch Ramos because she said parents send their children to the university to learn and the university is seen as a place of trust and an institution of safety and guidance.

"I know no parent wants to get a phone call in the middle of the night that their child is dead because of alcohol," she said.