AIDS Education in DeKalb County Schools

By Travis Mitchell, GHA Program Coordinator (written in 2010)

DeKalb County reports the second highest incidence rate of HIV/AIDS in all of Georgia. Though reaching young people with education and information is an essential strategy in combating this catastrophic disease, school counselors, who are the point people in such efforts, find themselves stretched thin in terms of time and budget. Global Health Action created the AIDS Awareness and Prevention Program in 2004 to help counselors and schools use the annual world-wide commemoration of World AIDS Day on December 1 to educate and raise awareness among their students.

Last year, as GHA’s Program Coordinator, I had the opportunity to speak to a county-wide gathering of counselors about the importance of addressing HIV/AIDS in their schools, and I encouraged them to participate in GHA’s program. Eight high schools and six middle schools from DeKalb County followed-up, and we provided them with complete information & action packets, with resources, statistics, websites, examples, and ideas about how to relate the importance of the disease to young people.

The counselors then teamed up with the student peer leaders in their schools to come up with ideas and plans for the week around December 1. GHA provided $100 mini-grants to each school to further support these activities, which included skits, information tables, displays, P.A. announcement, guest speakers, poster contests, quizzes and competitions, documentary filming, a teacher rap-off, and much more. Ultimately, their activities reached more than 13,300 young people. I had the chance to visit a number of the schools that week, and I was very impressed with the imagination and creativity of the counselors, teachers, and students. All of the participating schools did an excellent job of educating and raising awareness in a fun and interesting way.

For instance, at Stephenson Middle School in Stone Mountain, Mrs. Simmons, a former teacher of the year, used a science experiment which she had adapted from the CDC. She filled up twenty glasses with a clear liquid and asked each student to pour some of their liquid into four other students’ cups (representing the exchanging of fluids). They had to write down who they swapped with, and, at the end, Mrs. Simmons explained that one of the cups was contaminated with another solution, unbeknownst to anyone. She asked the students to look at the bottom of their cups, which each had a number, and whoever had cup number 10 was “infected.” Then, she asked everyone who had exchanged fluids with him directly or indirectly to stand up. They were all now “positive.” Their reactions illustrated their disbelief, and they exclaimed “If I had known he was infected, I would have never swapped with him,” which led into a discussion about healthy sexual practices.

Overall, after talking to several counselors, it seemed as though honesty was the best policy. While they stressed abstinence, they were realistic with the students and recognized that not every person would be abstinent, and all of them needed to know how to protect themselves. What was shocking for me was to hear over and over again how much of an impact HIV/AIDS really has in these students’ lives. So many had friends or relatives who were infected and yet the topic was never discussed. Some aspects of HIV are still very taboo, especially in the African-American community, but for the most part, the students were receptive towards the message.

Without the grants and technical assistance provided by GHA, many of the activities would not have been possible. One high school counselor remarked, “It is very encouraging just knowing there is an organization nearby that is genuinely concerned about the AIDS epidemic and supportive of the schools’ initiatives to be positive preventative resources for our young people.”