RESEDA : Campus Aims AIDS Program at Teen-Agers

When 17-year-old Veronica Corchado learned that a friend she had known since middle school was HIV-positive, she was shocked.

Like many teen-agers, the Grover Cleveland High School senior believed she and her peers were somehow immune to HIV, the deadly virus that causes AIDS.

In an attempt to dispel such sentiment, administrators and teachers at Cleveland this week sponsored an AIDS awareness program on campus. They decorated the school with awareness messages and invited a variety of speakers to meet with students.

At an assembly, students participated in a question-and-answer session with AIDS educators from the Valley Community Clinic, viewed panels from the Names Project AIDS Quilt and watched a group of their peers perform a chilling play about living with AIDS.

To kick off the assembly, a group of students stood on stage listing myths about AIDS and quickly debunking them with a barrage of facts.

“I am too young to get AIDS,” one student said.

“The number of teens with HIV doubles every year,” another responded.

Representatives from the Valley Community Clinic answered questions from the student audience about HIV and AIDS. Dozens of students asked about issues ranging from transmission of the virus to the possibilities for a cure.

Jerry Barros, the director of the HIV Education Project at the Valley Community Clinic, said he was impressed by the students’ questions, but remained concerned.

“I have seen their knowledge increase in the last few years. Now they know about it,” he said of high school students in general. “But some of them are still in denial. They’re not acting on their knowledge.”

Outside, after the assembly, students reacted to the program as they gathered around information tables to pick up pamphlets and condoms.

“It really got my attention,” said ninth-grader Frank Solis. “A lot of people just don’t care about using condoms. But after this they see that it could happen to anyone.”

Standing with a group of friends, Corchado agreed.

“A lot of people I know just don’t care,” the 17-year-old said. “A lot of my friends will say they are just not in the mood to put on a condom. This woke up a lot of people. It really makes you think.”