Local Teen Peer Educators Celebrate Program Graduation

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ALBANY, NY (06/24/2010)(readMedia)-- On Tuesday, June 22, 2010, local high school students from Chatham, Hudson and Taconic high school who have participated in the Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood S.T.A.R.S. (Seriously Talking About Responsible Sex) peer education program were recognized and celebrated by friends and family, as well as the UHPP staff at an end of the year celebration at Space 360 in Hudson.

"Participating in the S.T.A.R.S. program changed my personality dramatically," said graduating peer educator Rachel Gryner. "When I joined the program, my main goals were to improve my public speaking while having an impact on others. I achieved both of these goals, made some awesome friends and had a lot of fun along the way."

Those also graduating from the program include Danielle Gilleo, Emilie Latham, Angela Mathews, Jonathon Tenace, Letycia Tillman and Chris Thompson. Other students who participated during the 2009-2010 year include Amber Markham, Isabel Rothstein, Lester Zaborski III, Dylan Soares-Kern and Olivia Williams.

The Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood S.T.A.R.S. program recruits and trains high school students from Albany and Columbia Counties each year to act as peer educators. The students study and learn about a variety of issues related to sexual health and responsibility, and also learn speaking and presentation skills. Once trained, they provide educational programs on issues of sexual health in classrooms, community settings and at the UHPP weekly teen clinic. The peers are responsible for staffing a minimum of 50 teen clinic sessions each year.

A parent present at the Tuesday event shared his thoughts about the program. He praised the camaraderie of the kids in the program which, he said, "gives them the confidence to support each other and to support those that come to S.T.A.R.S. for information." He also shared the fact that the S.T.A.R.S. program "increased my child's determination to help others."

Meaghan Carroll is the UHPP Education Director and oversees the two Youth Program Facilitators responsible for S.T.A.R.S. in Albany and Columbia Counties. According to Carroll, "the S.T.A.R.S. program has been able to engage peers year after year, allowing them to grow and mature within the program and to make an ongoing difference in their communities."

The success of the program is shown, says Carroll, "by the peers' ability to take the knowledge they are given and use it in their future endeavors… Seeing a group of very diverse kids from very diverse backgrounds all share that experience is really rewarding."

The S.T.A.R.S. program is made possible through a grant from the New York State Department of Health-Community Based Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program (CBAPP).

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Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (UHPP) is a community-based non-profit organization providing advocacy, education and medical services for reproductive health care since 1934. In 2009, over 14,000 patients made 24,975 visits to UHPP health centers located in Albany, Hudson and Troy. UHPP health educators present over 300 education programs reaching over 5,000 youth and young adults. UHPP services are delivered with special concern for the underserved.

In photo from left to right: back; Angela Mathews, Olivia Williams, Emilie Latham, Lester Zaborski III, Nicole Dallas (Youth Program Facilitator), Meaghan Carroll (Education Director), Amber Markham, Dylan Soares-Kern, Rachel Gryner; front; Letycia Tillman, Danielle Gilleo, Isabel Rothstein, Jonathon Tenace.