As college students we sometimes feel as if we are immune to everything. Sometimes we tend to forget that hooking up can lead to a lifetime of problems. We forget that our careless decisions can led to STDs like Chlamydia, Herpes, and especially HIV and AIDS.
Cecilia Printy is trying to make a change.
The 22-year-old graduating senior has been working with her organization, The Respect Yourself, Check Yourself, and Protect Yourself (RCP) Movement for three years to raise awareness about the plague of HIV and AIDS.
The RCP Movement was started November 2006 in south Florida to expose and highlight the crisis our generation is facing with the HIV/AIDS virus, particularly in black communities. The UF chapter of the RCP movement was founded in 2008.
The mission of the organization is to reduce the spread of HIV by promoting and encouraging safer sex, periodic HIV screenings, and exploring the benefits of abstinence. Their ultimate goal is to heighten awareness and prevent the onset of new cases.
Printy, who also volunteers at the Alachua County Health Department, has been working with the organization since 2008 to educate about the virus and help prevent the spread of this disease.
“I cannot wait until the day where AIDS is gone. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later,” Printy said.
She believes that the disease can be prevented one person at a time.
“If one person becomes informed then that is one more person who can spread the information to others. We have to stop this disease on a person-by-person basis.”
Printy and the RCP movement works on ending this disease by hosting interactive forums, handing out condoms to party-goers downtown and hosting free testing all over campus. Recently the organization hosted their 4th annual World AIDS Day celebration “Facing AIDS: 30 Years Later.”
She is very proud of all of the work that her organization has done so far but she believes that there is more to be done.
“I will not be satisfied until this disease is no longer an issue,” Printy said. “Until then the work must continue.”
After graduation Printy plans on working to end HIVS/AIDS while working with City Year, an AmeriCorps service program.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.