On the morning of Oct. 30, 2007, Amanda Jax’s friends could not wake her.

After a night of heavy partying to celebrate her 21st birthday, Jax was lying on the bed at a friend’s apartment unresponsive. Jax, who had just been accepted into Minnesota State University, Mankato’s nursing program, died of acute alcohol poisoning.

Jax’s story is all too common on college campuses and increasingly in high schools, too.

According to a 2007 Surgeon General’s report, about 5,000 people under age 21 die each year due to underage drinking.

Jax’s stepmother, Patty Sterner, believes young people often consider themselves invincible and cannot imagine anything bad happening to them as a consequence of drinking. However, Jax and her family learned the inaccuracy of that belief too late.

“This can happen to you and someone you love, too,” Sterner told a roomful of Eden Valley-Watkins High School freshmen and sophomores Monday.

Sterner is speaking at Meeker County high schools this week as part of National Chemical Health Awareness Week.

The week is aimed at raising awareness to chemical health issues in the schools and community, said Meeker County Public Health educator Laura Lindeman.

Other Chemical Health week events included a sticker shock campaign at area liquor stores, tying Mothers Against Drunk Driving red ribbons on cars, sharing statistics about alcohol and drug use, as well as theme days at Litchfield Middle School and Litchfield High School.

Lindeman invited Sterner to share her personal story as a way to show students how dangerous underage drinking can be. “It brings it to the heart of the matter,” Lindeman said.

Read the complete story in the Nov. 20 Independent Review print edition.