On Feb. 20, 2018, The University of Michigan Sexperteam visited Community High School’s Health/Public Policy class. Sexperteam is a group of college students that present and educate other students on sexual health and relationships.  

Briana Sanders and Madeline Mair, both students at the University of Michigan, spoke to Robbie Stapleton’s class on topics such as relationships, decisions, values, and more. They started off with asking the class about “agreements.” These were basically rules that the class agreed to follow: confidentiality, respect, etc. After the rules were established, Sanders and Mair passed out a sheet of paper with a list of values on them; the students then circled five to ten values that were important in their lives and shared them with the class.

“Try to keep these values in your mind throughout your life,” Mair said. Many of our decisions and behaviors are directly related to our values. Mair discussed negative and positive correlations between some values and behaviors. This discussion lead them into their next topic: how alcohol and drugs affect our decisions and behavior.

On the back of the values paper were four boxes, each labeled with different categories: essential, tolerable, bonus, and deal breaker. The students wrote characteristics for relationships, romantic or platonic, that they felt would fit into each category. They then shared their thoughts with the class. After this exercise, they moved onto discussing consent, sexual relationships, and sexual assault.

“Just because a person says no, doesn’t mean they say yes,” Mair said. They discussed how alcohol and drugs affect our decision making, especially in sexual interactions, and ways to stay safe.

Finally, Briana presented to the class ways to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs). They brought out examples of male and female condoms, and how to properly use them.

“I really loved that it was a presentation done by college students on issues that college and high school students face,” said Sabina Fall, a student in the Health/Public Policy class. “I think it’s really important and powerful when people educate their peers on issues that they themselves have experienced or know of their peers experiencing.”

The next presentation in the Health/Public Policy class is Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

The Sexperteam logo is credited to Julian Weisensel.