AUGSBURG COLLEGE PROGRAM SUPPORTS STUDENTS WHO'VE FACED ADDICTION

In an Augsburg College residence hall in Minneapolis, caffeine and nicotine
are the drugs of choice. They fuel conversation and long study sessions and
stoke the quiet times when people look inward.

Not that these 43 students haven't tried other drugs. Heroin, cocaine, LSD,
Ecstasy, crack -- you name it, and someone here has probably used it. And
used it hard.

Now, as students in Augsburg's StepUP program, these recovering addicts are
living together on campus, attending college full time and trying to
rebuild their lives. StepUP is the only such program in the nation aimed at
traditional-aged college students, officials say.

For Ashley Black, a sunny 20-year-old from Toronto, the program offers a
fresh start and hope that she can break a pattern of drug abuse that began
when she was 11. "I feel I'm beginning my life over again," she said. "I've
been sober one year and a month. I know I can be OK."

StepUP students hail from Philadelphia and New York City and states such as
Florida, California and Texas. Many are from wealthy families. Their
college entrance exam scores tend to be high, and some had planned to
attend elite schools before addiction laid them low.

So they come to Augsburg, a Lutheran school in the heart of Minneapolis
that prides itself on its urban tradition and strong record of enrolling
first-generation college students.

It's not where Eric Hoonhout, 20, of New Jersey thought he'd be a year ago.

He was a freshman at the University of Tampa in Florida, skipping classes
to drink, use pot and sleep. When he was kicked out of school, he ended up
in treatment. A powerful desire to get back into college led him to
Augsburg this fall. He had planned to stay for a year and then transfer to
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., to get an edge on law school.
But three months into the semester, he's not sure anymore.

"I wouldn't mind going to a more prestigious school, but now I don't know,"
Hoonhout said. "I like it here, and I'm doing well. I'm very happy."

Almost 190 students have gone through StepUP since its founding in 1997,
and 78 percent have stayed sober while they're in school. (Follow-up
studies on alumni begin next fall.) Former students are now accountants,
teachers and seminarians. One took over his father's real estate company in
Connecticut.

Though Texas Tech and Rutgers University in New Jersey have residence hall
programs aimed at recovering addicts who attend school, they tend to cater
to older students, said StepUP Director Patrice Salmeri. The Augsburg
program is the only one set up for students ages 18 to 22, she said.

Most students are referred by the Hazelden Center for Youth and Families in
Plymouth, which treats young patients from all over the world. Augsburg
requires that students be sober for at least six months before they enter
the program. They must agree to live on one of Anderson Hall's three
chemical-free floors and adhere to all program requirements, including a
drug test when they enter school and zero tolerance for anyone who
relapses. Officials can order a drug test on the spot.

"If you're using, you're out," said Salmeri.

Students meet weekly with Salmeri or David Hadden, the program's assistant
director, to talk about academic and personal progress. Each week, they
must attend program and residence hall meetings and at least two Alcoholics
Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings. They are required to
have an AA/NA sponsor from the community.

Relationships with other students in the program are prohibited until
students have been in StepUP for a full semester and have been sober for at
least a year.

More than two-thirds of the program's students are male. Salmeri said that
as a group, StepUP students have some of the highest entrance exam scores
on campus. But their drug and treatment histories tend to be complicated.
Some have been through treatment multiple times, and almost all abused more
than alcohol. Family affluence -- most StepUP students pay the annual
$24,283 cost of attending Augsburg without financial aid -- often hasn't
helped.

"Money has hurt a lot of these students because they're been able to buy
expensive designer drugs," Salmeri said. "Some have been through hell and
back and they're still alive and wonder why."

One former StepUP student died of an overdose. The student's parents
donated $10,000 for a scholarship.

Strong Peer Support

Sprawled on couches and sitting on the floor of a residence hall lounge,
some cradling the ever-present cups of coffee, students have a litany of
explanations for the drug use that led them here.

Parents and other family members used. Drugs were a way to escape painful
shyness, anger, boredom or emptiness. One young man said he was overwhelmed
by love and affection but believed he was a pathetic underachiever.

StepUP students stick together, joking about "normies," the people who can
enjoy half a beer and walk away from the rest.

"Normies are as peculiar to us as alcoholics are to them," said StepUP
alumnus Ben Berkowitz.

While some students are involved in larger campus groups -- Hoonhout
belongs to a college historical society and a group that is going to New
York City for a model United Nations program -- many StepUP students hang
with each other.

"We're the biggest clique on campus," said Torin Kelly, a communications
major from Minnetonka. "If you see three StepUP people, you'll see three more."

While other students go to bars on weekends, StepUP students visit coffee
shops or go bowling and to the movies. They hang out in their residence
hall lounge to drink coffee and play cards. They eat together.

Black, who graduated from her high school with honors but dropped out of
university after two months because of her drug use, has been at Augsburg
since June. Though she spoke to other students this fall about her problems
with cocaine and other drugs, StepUP is her shelter and support. She clings
to it with the fervor of someone who knows that sobriety is fragile.

"Being in college is a goal, and with the using, I never could get through
it," she said. "Here, [drugs and alcohol] isn't in my face. Being with
other people who can relate to me . . . makes it so much easier to live."

Black is worried about returning to Toronto for Christmas. Though she
desperately wants to see her family, she said, "I don't know if I can be
who I am now there."

StepUP students and staff have each other's phone numbers and are
encouraged to call each other during long holiday breaks. Salmeri
recommends they seek out a local AA/NA meeting. Sometimes it's best to
spend just a few days at home where old friends and habits can resurface,
she said. Students can always come back to Augsburg: Their rooms are
available during breaks.

"The holidays are a high relapse time," Salmeri said. "We recommend that
they don't travel alone. There is strength in numbers."

A Place For Growing

At the end of the school year, StepUP students receive a letter. Some are
told they are ready to live on their own, though they can stay if they
want. Others are invited back for another year. Those who have broken rules
or shown questionable commitment to sobriety aren't invited back.

Since September, when 47 students were enrolled as StepUP students, one
young man suspected of using was kicked out when he refused a drug test.
Three others recently were asked to leave for breaking other rules, leaving
43 students. Ten new students will join the program in January.

One of the program's graduates is Berkowitz, who said he hasn't had a drink
in more than four years. A junior majoring in business administration and
economics, he was treated for addiction at Hazelden as a teenager and then
lived with his mother in New York City. But AA meetings there were filled
with middle-aged people he could not relate to. Being home reminded him of
the days he abused alcohol and marijuana and shot heroin in the high school
bathroom.

Minnesota was full of support groups for recovering young people and had
StepUP as well.

"After six months, I said please send me back," Berkowitz said. "I didn't
want to feel that pain anymore."

The 22-year-old is living off campus now and still has mixed feelings about
living in Minnesota. "It feels like home, but it doesn't," he said. "But
this is the place where I've done all my growing."

He says he is comfortable around "normies." But his sobriety is delicate.

"I haven't had a physical craving for alcohol for two-and-a-half years, but
I think about it every day," he said. Friends on whom he has relied for
years are graduating or gone. "It's a little scary; there's a lot of
uncertainty," he said.

Routines learned in treatment help. Recovering addicts are taught that
discipline and attention to little things lead to bigger accomplishments.
For a day to be good, Berkowitz said, he must make his bed in the morning.
"You control what you can," he said.

He knows four people who have died from chemical abuse.

"I'm fairly convinced I'd be dead if I weren't here," he said.