The Lifestyles Center is so much more than condoms and the creators of “Toilet Talk” that we all associate them with. They were presented with the “Outstanding Chapter” award at the BACCHUS conference held in Buffalo, N.Y. for all of their awesome work on campus.
The group attended the Area 11 conference held every spring that is composed of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The conference is for higher education health educators within those states. They attend presentations on health issues and to see what other schools are up to. Each school nominates themselves or other schools for certain awards such as outstanding senior, outstanding chapter or most effective chapter among many others. The selection is reviewed by the BACCHUS committee board and announced at an awards ceremony.
“We are the only school that encompasses all areas of health and has professional staff. Most schools concentrated on one area like stress relief or sex education and is run by students,” says Becky Brennan, a senior psychology major and an intern for the LifeStyles Center.
The LifeStyles Center is very involved on campus and ensuring that their peers are well-educated in all areas of health, while creating safe alternatives for fun on-and off-campus. They sponsor many events such as the infamous “Open Mic Night” held at Lake Effect Café every Thursday, co-sponsor many events with campus recreation such as the Color Run coming up in April and Rail Jam among many other fun events.
“We always have a lot of fun and are always laughing. We wish more people would come visit,” says Lauren Boyd, an intern at the LifeStyles Center.
The peer educators work very hard at capturing the attention of the student body to educate them on all health issues. They are enrolled in GST 309, which meets weekly to learn about topics and how to implement them into the different areas they are assigned to such as the Street Outreach, Toilet Talk or Social Media teams.
When asked what are three things they wish the student body knew about the Lifestyles center, they responded:
- We’re open and never pass judgement about people and their issues and/or concerns. That is one of the very first things learned as a peer educator.
- There is always something going on! Laughing, joking around, relieving stress and creating a fun, safe environment for the students
- The center is something different, it’s not just a place for BASICS or to get free condoms, there’s a lot to be learned from the peer educators and the professional staff and have fun too!
The LifeStyles Center is one of the few places on campus that allows for growth of individuals within its own program. You start off as a peer educator and have the ability to move up to an intern which is a paid position and rare to find on campus!
Take a few minutes out of your day and go visit the Lifestyles Center located in the same building as Mary Walker Health Center. Just follow the laughs and you’ll find the peer educators!