People around the globe will recognize Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day, and Clemson University is no exception.
Redfern and its interns, Kara Fisher and Camelia Singletary, are sponsoring the event that will be held in the Hendrix Center, meeting room A, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. During this time an informational session will be held in the meeting room for anyone interested in learning more about HIV/AIDS. Redfern also offered free rapid HIV tests from November 16 to 18 in preparation for the event.
Said Singletary, a health science major and organizer of the event, “We hope that people will come out and educate themselves on the AIDS virus. This info session is particularly important for people in our age group because we tend to think we’re invincible, but we’re definitely not.”
Following the informational session, a candlelight vigil will be held out on the lawn to honor all those who have died from AIDS. In South Carolina alone there have been 18,320 people diagnosed with AIDS since 1981, where nearly half of those victims died. And there have been 23,199 HIV positive tests in the state since 1986. To further tribute these victims, a red ribbon made of flags will be displayed on Bowman on the honorary Day, and fund raising is also being conducted around campus to gather donations for the AIDS Upstate organization. Also, an HIV-positive speaker, sponsored by a University sorority, will talk at the vigil.
Another group involved with the promotion of World AIDS Day is a microbiology senior seminar. On Dec. 1, this seminar class will be passing out condoms on the library bridge. This class, which focuses on infection diseases, spent three weeks learning about HIV/AIDS, and then decided to take action. The professor, Dr. Patricia Mickelsen, asked the class to design a t-shirt that the volunteers will wear that day on the library bridge.
“Part of the original idea was that we wanted to make a spin off of the high-five club. So, our shirts say ‘It’s the only high-five [HI-V] you don’t want’,” said a member of the seminar, Colleen Fenn.
The idea behind the condoms is to promote the practice of safer sex.
“During GWB’s presidency, abstinence-only sex education approaches were taught, and according to statistics, this lack of educational options on how to practice safe sex coincides with the higher rates of teen pregnancies, STDs and HIV we are seeing today. People need to know what is out there and available to them,” said Fenn.
Redfern offers STD testing and counseling year-round. To learn more about these tests, or HIV and AIDS, call Parvin Lewis at (864) 656-0141 or stop by the Redfern health promotion office.
