On Dec. 1, approximately 90 students, friends and family members gathered in the Colonials Athletic Club at the GW’s Charles E. Smith Center for a special graduation. Forty D.C. public elementary school students had successfully completed the first semester-long program about HIV/AIDS prevention run by the Grassroots Project, a joint effort between student athletes from GW and Georgetown University.
Eighteen GW athletes, including members of the women’s soccer team, men’s rowing, cross country and women’s gymnastics, worked with their counterparts at Georgetown to devise an interactive eight-week curriculum that addressed how HIV/AIDS is spread and how to make safe decisions about sexual activity.
“We have developed an active way of dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis in the District,” says Grassroots Colonials volunteer Jake Miner, a member of the GW men’s rowing team. “College athletes are seen as role models by many of these kids. We wish to use this trust to change many of the attitudes and conceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS and general decision-making.”
Through games and “key messages” that are placed on flash cards, the volunteers had students up on their feet, discussing ways HIV/AIDS can be prevented and how to support a community member who has acquired the disease. One game, called “Find the Ball,” had students line up and pass a tennis ball with the word “HIV” written on it back and forth behind their backs. After a few passes, each team had to guess where the ball had settled, illustrating the importance of knowing HIV status.
And in the District, knowing one’s HIV status is critical. According to the D.C. Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update 2008, approximately three percent of D.C. residents have HIV/AIDS. The United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has historically defined an HIV epidemic as “severe” when the overall percentage of disease in a specific region is more than one percent.
Daquan Green, a student at Martin Luther King, Jr., says the games taught him and his friends a lot about HIV prevention. “The games were fun, but we also learned about how you get HIV and that it can become AIDS,” he says.
At the end of the ceremony, students received a certificate and free tickets to the Jan. 2 men’s and women’s basketball double-header at the Charles E. Smith Center.
Mr. Miner says the graduation was a special conclusion to the program. “Over eight weeks you really develop a relationship with these kids and become invested not only in their HIV/AIDS education, but their overall well-being,” says Mr. Miner. “The students were excited to share what they learned at graduation, and allowing them to experience it with their peers really shows them that we are trying to create a community of people that care about their future.”