Peer Educators to Attend and Present at Regional Conference

The Pat Walker Health Center is pleased to share that a group of students from two of its peer education programs will be attending the BACCHUS Area 6 Regional Conference in Tyler, Texas, over the March 1 weekend. Six students from RESPECT (Rape Education Services by Peers Encouraging Conscious Thought) and two students representing SEAR (Substance Education and Alcohol Resources) will attend the conference.

RESPECT peer educators will present a workshop, "What would you say? What would you do?" The focus of the workshop is bystander intervention for sexual assault prevention. The workshop utilizes three vignettes that are briefly acted out with discussion and small group work to follow. This is a new and exciting format for the RESPECT peer educators to help other college students identify opportunities for bystander intervention along with the message of rape prevention.

Graduate students, Cassie Griffin and Jerrica Burns, will present two workshops on "Rape Through Literature: An Academic Course." One workshop will be directed toward students with emphasis on ways peer educators can be an interactive part with facilitating discussion while assisting within an academic course. The other workshop will be directed toward advisers and professionals who may be interested in developing academic courses such as this on their campuses.

Both, RESPECT and SEAR, will participate with the exhibit portion of the conference. They will erect displays that convey educational material about sexual assault prevention and substance abuse prevention.

Advisers Mary A. Wyandt-Hiebert and Debbie Morgan will accompany the students and also attend the conference. "We are very proud of the contributions our students make toward the advancement of peer education through their participation with the BACCHUS regional conference. This is an opportunity for our students to learn from others and to share their wealth of skills and knowledge that will benefit participants attending from other colleges and universities." says Wyandt-Hiebert.