Lexi White – General Reporter
For college students, Halloween is more about the parties than it is about the candy, and when adolescents go to these parties, they tend to partake in sexual activities without taking the proper precautions.
This is why PHS, or the Public Health Society, partnered with Trojan and the Advocates for Youth organization. They handed out Halloween goodie bags filled with candy and condoms on Tuesday, Oct. 31 in Engleman Hall.
PHS set up a table in the Engleman lobby and covered it in goodie bags filled with these treats. There was Halloween music playing that had students smiling while they walked to and from their classes. Public health major Angela Corsino, a senior, and public health major Melissa Gomez, a junior, were the two students running this event.
“Every semester ,we apply to Advocates for Youth, and they do something called ‘The Condom Collective.’ They send schools 500 condoms to distribute to students each semester,” said Corsino.
When asked about the process of putting together the safe sex goodie bags, Corsino said, “Within about a week, I went on Amazon, bought the candy and the bags. Then the box of condoms came in. It then took us about an hour to make the goodie bags.”
Corsino also said that PHS had been doing one event every semester to promote safe sex on campus. She said, “We have gotten into the habit of doing this each semester. In the spring semester, we do ‘Kisses and Condoms’, where we hand out Hershey Kisses and condoms together. We really want people to be safe and prevent STDs.”
When asked about the free condoms being given out, Corsino said, “We figured that just bags of condoms would not go very well, so we got goodie bags with an assortment of fun things. We did not know how else to distribute 500 condoms, so we thought this way would be the most effective.”
“I think the free condoms are awesome. Safe sex is great sex,” said public health major Lauren McCall, a senior. She also said that her favorite thing about the goodie bags is that they promote public health.
Some students may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable going to a drugstore and purchasing condoms. In response, Corsino said, “Sometimes guilt and fear can contribute to why students are having unsafe sex. Because we are giving out free condoms, we hope that students will be more willing to take them.”
“Our policy is even if you do not need them, it is better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them,” said Corsino.
Gomez described her personal reasoning for wanting to spread awareness for safe sex. She said, “I was a teenage mother. I really want to help prevent teen pregnancy. I think this was an amazing idea to put together goodie bags and promote safe sex on campus.”
In under an hour, the goodie bag booth was drained of its contents, implying that students do want to take the proper precautions when being sexually active. PHS will be having another goodie bag giveaway in February for Valentine’s Day.
