Life is full of many choices in regards to what one does with his or her health.

Charles Torpe, coordinator of the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Education Seminar, or ATODES, has taught this lesson to many MSU students during the last seven years.

Sober for 12 years, Torpe said the job was therapy for his everyday life.

"Things I most need to remember myself are things that I need to help students be aware of," Torpe said.

Torpe will be leaving the program to move with his recently graduated girlfriend. He said he is sad to leave a job dedicated to teaching the health and legal ramifications of addiction. Torpe, who said he is unsure of when he will be leaving, is currently interviewing candidates for his position.

ATODES, a nonprofit program sponsored by Student Life, aims to help students confront addiction and abuse. The program, which costs $50 per person, had 446 students sign up last year. The program, which runs during the spring and fall semesters, works through three sessions.

The first session involves a health assessment test that works to separate students into low, medium and high-addiction risk groups.

"It creates internal struggle as students deal with their own awareness," said Rick Shafer, associate director of Student Life.

For the second session, Torpe leads a group discussion among the different risk groups. Topics discussed range from the social problems that drinking causes in the lower risk group to the problems addiction have caused students of higher risk groups.

"Students have a lot of strength in major areas of their life." Torpe said. "Once they see they can transfer those strengths through their choice-making and actions around alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, I think they understand the power and control that they have."

The final session is a one-on-one that is setup with Torpe and a variety of university officials.

Student Life Assistant Director Amy Radford, who has worked with students in the third session, said the experience is moving.

"I had a student who really made some strong decisions about choosing not to continue to drink," she said. "She had a younger sibling, and she wanted them to know how easy a mindless decision could impact their life."

Students are referred to the program either through a district court or MSU's Judicial Affairs Office. A student required to attend the program must complete it or a hold is put on his or her registration.

Shafer said students often believe ATODES is like an Alcoholics Anonymous class, but the program only stresses to teach students about the law and consequences of their choices.

"Its not health terrorism," Shafer said about ATODES.

Through his experience Shafer said he has ceased to believe the ideal that most college students don't drink responsibly.

The 2002 National Collegiate Health Assessment Survey said that 66 percent of MSU students drank moderately or not at all.