On Wednesday April 4, Peer Educators Educating Peers (PEEPS) along with the University Counseling Center (UCC) and Fresh Peeps held an interactive presentation on sex and alcohol.
The presentation, which was titled Candy, Sex and Ice Cream, was held in the Student Union Theater where all who attended were offered candy.
“The purpose of the presentation was to increase the awareness of STDs and promote safe sex,” said Annette Baldwin, a counselor with the UCC. “We are also trying to make students aware of the negative effects of alcohol and sex.”
A sexually transmitted diseases (STD) also known as a sexually transmitted infection(STI) or venereal disease(VD) is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans or animals by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex.
Students were also told that 76 percent of new diagnoses of HIV occur in women.
During the presentation, Kuldip Grest, a staff RN at the University Health Center told students of the many things that could and could not be treated at the Health Center and how they would have to live with their choices.
Grest also reminded students that the only way to guarantee that you are protected is to abstain from sex.
Any student that would like to get tested can go to the University Health Center free of charge after an appointment has been made online at http://www.selu.edu/admin/health_ctr/index.html.
As the presentation went on all students who chose to accept the free candy were in for a shock when the host health education major Veronica Wynn told the audience that anyone who had taken candy or accepted candy from a friend had contracted one or more STDs while those who refused candy from friends as well as workers were healthy.
The STD caught varied depending on the candy eaten which meant it was possible for people to contract several.
The STD caught ranged from Syphilis (Starburst) to HIV (peppermints) and all things in between.
The presentation also featured students taking on the names of STDs and telling everyone about the areas that they infected as well as symptoms.
“We chose to hold this presentation right before spring break because this is when students could be participating in high risk activities,” said Baldwin.
Before the presentation was closed, the audience was asked to participate in a true or false session to prove and disprove myths that are associated with alcohol.
After the presentation was finished, all students were given ice cream for attending the presentation.