I almost drowned when I was 9 years old in a Holiday Inn swimming pool. I relived the horror again when I was 15 and fell out of my tube at a water park. I vowed I would never get in the water again (okay . except to bathe). But I decided this semester to overcome my fear and take Beginner’s Swimming.

Everything was foggy when Kelly Burch-Ragan’s eyes opened and she slowly gazed around the cold hospital room. Her sense of time had slipped away. Confusion blanketed her mind, as pain-relieving drugs flowed through her veins. Kelly, an assistant professor of counseling and student affairs, had been in a drug-induced coma.

Wayne Hoffman flipped vodka bottles, mixed exotic drinks and talked with many patrons perched on stools at a tavern in Texas where he bartended. One night, one of his colleagues slipped Hoffman, then 25, a “new” drug called “crank.” Hoffman, already accustomed to snorting cocaine, said the homemade drug seemed “innocent” to him.

Ya’Keshia Murrell stepped into Club Twilight in Nashville earlier this year clad in blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt and a pair of fresh white and blue Nikes. Along with her make-up, sparkling jewelry and matching outfit, the Bowling Green sophomore accessorized her smile with four white gold teeth with a sparkling diamond cut.