Sixth-, eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade students were surveyed.

What is the average age for when Freeborn County students first drink an entire alcoholic drink?

boys: 12.5 years old

girls: 13.1 years old

What percentage of Freeborn County students said they had an alcoholic drink in the last 30 days?

sixth-graders: 2 percent

 eighth-graders: 12.6 percent

 10th-graders: 19.8 percent

12th-graders: 41.6 percent

Combined percentage over the four grades: 19 percent

— Information from Freeborn County Partners In Prevention

What: Preventing Underage Drinking: A Town Hall Meeting

Who: parents, grandparents, community members, educators, youth, those working with youth, anyone interested in preventing underage drinking

Where: HealthReach, 1705 S.E. Broadway Ave., Albert Lea

When: 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday; reception following at 7:30 p.m.

Information: A panel of local experts (law enforcement, school social workers, representatives from Fountain Centers and substance abuse prevention specialists) will share information about underage drinking. Contact Alice Englin with Freeborn County Partners in Prevention at 377-5504 for additional information.

Short, frequent discussions can have a real impact on your child’s decision about alcohol.

 Talking often builds an open, trusting relationship with your child. Children are more likely to avoid drinking when they have a strong, trusting relationship with their parents.

 Lots of little talks are more effective than one big talk. Use everyday opportunities to talk about underage drinking.

When you do talk about alcohol, make your views and rules clear.

As children get older, the conversation changes. What you say to a 9-year-old child about alcohol is different from what you would say to a 15-year-old child.

Remember that the conversation goes both ways.

— Information from www.underagedrinking.samhsa.gov

Seventy-nine percent of Freeborn County teenagers don’t drink alcohol in a typical month.

It’s a message that’s posted on billboards in town and is part of a greater message about the prevention of underage drinking. That will be the subject of a town hall meeting this week in Albert Lea.

To educate youth, parents, teachers and other community members about the risks associated with underage drinking, the federal government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking is hosting town hall meetings around the nation during the months of March and April.

Albert Lea’s town hall meeting, sponsored together with Freeborn County Partners in Prevention, will be Thursday at 6 p.m.

Freeborn County Partners in Prevention Coalition Director Alice Englin said the meeting will educate those in attendance about the impact of underage drinking and spur development of possible solutions to the problem.

She said during the meeting, attendants will watch a video called “This Place,” which shows how a community can pull together to eliminate underage drinking.

Afterward, law enforcement officials, school social workers, Fountain Centers representatives and substance abuse prevention specialists will speak for three to five minutes each about what they’re seeing regarding problems with the issue locally, Englin said.

“We will talk about the statistics about what’s happening here in Freeborn County,” Englin said.

“And talk about what we can do in our community.

“We want communitywide change — policies, systems and environmental changes — that’s where we can affect the most kids.”

Then, those in attendance will be able to voice their concerns and opinions and find out how they can help enact positive changes, too.

Following the meeting, there will be a reception with refreshments, and community members will have the chance to talk one-on-one with panel members.

“We’ll take the ideas that we hear and take it back to our coalition,” Englin said.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2008, 15.9 percent of eighth-graders, 28.8 percent of 10th-graders, and 43.1 percent of 12th-graders reported drinking an alcoholic beverage in the previous month.

Among eighth-graders, about one in 20 reported being drunk at least once in the last month, while nearly one in seven students in 10th grade and two out of every seven students in 12th grade reported the same, the institute stated.

According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, more than 70 percent of children say parents are the leading influence in their decision to drink.

Englin encouraged people who cannot attend the town hall meeting to visit www.underagedrinking.samhsa.gov to get tips on starting a conversation about underage drinking with youth.

People can also contact Englin by phone at 377-5504 or by e-mail at alice.englin@co.freeborn.mn.us.