Groups gear up for AIDS day

"One in 500 college students has HIV," said Katie Koehler (senior-biobehavioral health), co-coordinator of World AIDS Day at Penn State. "It's an issue that needs to be addressed."

The Global AIDS Initiative (GAI), the Penn State chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, will be sponsoring events between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. today in Alumni and Heritage halls in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Along with allied organizations, GAI will be distributing literature and other materials, recruiting new members and accepting donations. The group will also be displaying several portions of the AIDS Memorial Quilt -- swatches that each memorialize the life of a person lost to AIDS -- as part of a national initiative sponsored by the NAMES Project Foundation.

World AIDS Day, founded in 1988 at the World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programs for AIDS Prevention, has annually announced a theme addressing some aspect of the fight against HIV/AIDS. This year's theme is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise," encouraging citizens to hold leaders accountable in following through on initiatives to combat AIDS globally, according to the Web site worldaidsday.org.

University Health Services (UHS) is also offering free HIV testing at the LGBTA Student Resource Center and the Center for Women Students between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., with no appointment required. Results are always confidential, said Susan Kennedy, associate director of UHS.

"Results do not become a part of your medical record," she said.

Kennedy works in the Office of Health Promotion and Education, a division of UHS. Her office sponsors a number of sexual health programs, including an awareness table in the HUB and "safer-sex parties."

"The safer-sex parties are geared towards female students and promote sexual health awareness, including the use of condoms," Kennedy said. "RAs and other leaders can request a safer-sex party for their floor group, and we'll provide them with a trained facilitator to run the event."

Kennedy's office also conducts Biobehavioral Health 297B, called "SISTA," which is a small, individual-focused seminar that discusses personal and self-esteem issues, targeting black female students.

"We've run the SISTA class for three semesters, and we've always had consistent enrollment," Kennedy said.

Kennedy has plans to expand the office's Influential Peers program, an initiative that uses outgoing student volunteers to promote sexual health awareness in their fellow students.

"We're looking to recruit 100 Influential Peers, and we have about 15," Kennedy said. "We're hoping that World AIDS Day will generate more interest."

UHS also supports the HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Advisory Council (HARRAC), a student organization dedicated to "enhancing the sexual health of Penn State students through student-directed health promotion and activism," according to its Web site. HARRAC runs the "Banana in the Canyon" program, distributing free condoms every other Friday night outside Canyon Pizza, 260 E. Beaver Ave., via a volunteer in a banana costume.

"We give out a few thousand free condoms every time," Tabitha Hamon(senior-business administration), a volunteer at HARRAC, said. "Everyone loves the banana."

Danielle Wilt (freshman-premedicine) attended a health education event hosted by her RA and sponsored by UHS. Called "Risky Business," the session included information on safe drinking and how to avoid rape.

"I thought it was informative," Wilt said. "They gave us a ton of pamphlets, and we held races while wearing a pair of beer goggles."

The group members also did not leave the session empty-handed.

"My friend took 60 condoms away with her," Wilt said.