For those who are 20, waiting for the clock to strike midnight on their 21st birthday is like waiting for Christmas morning at the age of five. Time seems to stand still. The second hand of the clock no longer moves.

In a college town like Ames, the journey into adulthood calls for a major celebration. No longer must one go down Welch Avenue, glancing through the bar window at students sitting at tables topped with a sea of beer pitchers.

But for some, the joyous celebration can end in a three-night stay at Mary Greeley Medical Center. For one birthday boy, that is exactly how his 23rd year started.

Ryan Michael Peterson, junior in liberal arts and sciences, almost drank himself to death Wednesday night on his 23rd birthday after drinking as many as 20 shots. According to an article in the Ames Tribune, Peterson’s blood-alcohol content was almost .400 when he arrived at Mary Greeley Medical Center.

This isn’t the first time someone has had to be taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center because of alcohol poisoning. This isn’t the first time a college student has almost died.

The goal of drinking 21 shots on your 21st birthday has become a tradition plaguing college campuses nationwide.

But now it seems to have become a yearly event, a challenge to drink your age. A challenge that can never end well.

You’d think college students, who will soon be getting degrees in careers like engineering, would be smart enough to know that 20 plus shots of hard liquor can kill.

But apparently, common sense can’t be learned in the classroom.

After waking up from slipping into a coma, some will blame their actions on peer pressure, tradition, naivete, stupidity or ignorance.

Whatever the reason, it is obvious that they did not learn from those who had come before them — those who may still be walking the Campustown strip or those who are now resting in the cemetery.

This story of another twenty-something person hospitalized for alcohol poisoning will hopefully prevent today’s birthday boys and girls from downing 20 shots.

With each passing day, another ISU student has another 21st birthday, giving him or her the legalized right to drink.

But in this case, it is best to learn from others instead of from firsthand experience.