Since the spring semester started at The University of Alabama, have you noticed an excessive number of students wearing shirts with “kale” written across the chest ? Have you noticed the booths of energetic students in black shirts advertising free stuff and handing out pamphlets on your way to class, the recreation center, or the cafeteria? Do you put your headphones on when you see them to avoid conversation? It’s alright, it happens.
The booths you see all across campus are one of the main tools used by the peer education organization Project Health, an organization established and ran by the Student Health Center. This organization is dedicated to promoting health and wellness across campus, and making this process interactive and interesting is an approach used to reach as many students as possible. Each week, Project Health covers a health topic specialized and crafted for college students, such as fad diets, alcohol safety, and sexual health. They offer games to play that teach about the topic of the week and free items, such as hand sanitizer, chapsticks, and yes, sometimes t-shirts. If you do not have time to play the game, they will still offer you two colorful pamphlets attached with a button. These buttons are seemingly popular among students on campus, as they can be seen on many backpacks due to their light-hearted humor, often involving pop culture references or puns. For example, to promote exercise, buttons donning a protein shake bottle with the quote, “Poppin’ Bottles, Gettin’ Wheysted” were given out.
While these tactics are eccentric and entertaining, their mission is to draw attention to the purpose of the organization, which is to advocate for well-being among University of Alabama students. They aim to educate students on all aspects of health, as their concentrated focuses include everything from financial, mental, sexual, and nutritional health. While Project Health has booths set up around campus every week, Monday through Thursday, they also have divisions committed to conducting specific presentations in residence halls, classrooms, and sorority houses.
An impressive aspect of this organization is that it is peer education oriented, meaning that the people giving you pamphlets about suicide awareness and body image are all college kids dedicated to helping their fellow students improve their health and prosperity. The pamphlets are written by these interns as well, so the information is specifically tailored to help you learn something new and interesting, not contain obvious facts.
These pamphlets and Project Health as a whole function as a source for college students to gain information about their health and welfare. While some students may never visit the Student Health Center, they may pick up a pamphlet on their way to class or hear a presentation in their residence hall that inspires them to live a healthier lifestyle.
To learn more about Project Health, request a presentation, or see where the booths are, visit http://projecthealth.ua.edu.