By Saraya, Intern for Planned Parenthood MN,ND,SD
After months
of uncertainty and debate, the North Dakota State University and Planned
Parenthood sex education program has started teaching the youth in our
community! Reach One Teach One- North Dakota, also known as ROTO, is a peer
education program that gives young people an opportunity to learn about
real-life issues related to sexuality and then share their knowledge with
others. ROTO is all about health, community, and responsibility. As well as
always being comprehensive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate.
The Planned
Parenthood educators cover many topics with the youth over a 12 week course.
Some of the topics include: communication skills, goal setting, healthy
relationships, abstinence, anatomy, birth control, responsible decision-making,
sexual violence, and STIs and HIV/AIDS. The goal of this program is to decrease
teen pregnancy and STI rates. This goal will be accomplished by teaching the
youth those various topics.
Not only
will the youth be learning a lot, but they will also be having a lot of fun.
Every session the youth are served a meal, and are also eligible to win many
cool prizes!
The
educators of this program are Katie and Rachel, both are very excited to get
this program running. Katie is the Community Education Programs Manager. She
does a variety of things; she connects with community partners, members, and
organizations that work with the youth, she communicates with the youth and
families and answers any questions they may have, and most importantly she
facilitates the program and make sure it meets all of the requirements.
Alongside Katie is her co-worker Rachel who is the Community Education
Specialist. Rachel’s duties include facilitating the programming and planning
implementation of the curriculum.
Both Katie
and Rachel feel that the classes are over all going very well. Of course it
takes a while to get the program running, but they feel like they have “gotten
into the groove”. They have stated that the youth seem very receptive and
engaged during the classes, and they are getting a very positive response from
the youth. Many of the youth have stated that they wished they would’ve had
this education sooner!
Katie and
Rachel are excited to see how this program will grow over the next three years.
They are looking to implement double amount of classes to be offered this
summer.
You can find more
information about this program online at www.ppmns.org/reachoneteachoneND