SIERRA VISTA — Cochise College is observing World AIDS Day next week with activities beginning Monday leading up to the main event Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Sierra Vista Campus Student Union.
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day through Thursday, the Student Government Association will have an information table set up with free information about HIV and AIDS, a sign-up sheet for free testing and a place for students to participate in a red ribbon memorial.
For this tribute, students have the opportunity to take a long strip of velvet ribbon and tie it to one of the mesquite trees outside the Union as a remembrance or in support of people living with HIV and AIDS. Student Life Coordinator Jenn Wantz is also making large paper red ribbons for students to sign and attach to the windows that face the front of the Union.
Red ribbons are the international symbol of HIV awareness.
For Thursday’s main event, more activities begin at 11 a.m. with an hour-long HIV 101 information session, which will be held again at 2 p.m. At noon is World AIDS Day Jeopardy, and at 1 p.m., there will be a Living with AIDS presentation, when people who have AIDS will share their stories. The day concludes with a Red Light Ceremony, which will light the Union Community Room with glow sticks and include a slideshow and moment of silence.
All of Thursday’s events will be held in the Student Union. Also throughout the day will be HIV/AIDS testing for nearly two dozen students, which takes about 20 minutes per person. Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) counselors will be available when students receive results.
Wantz said she’s excited to be hosting an event that will help educate students about safe sex and the realities of how HIV is transmitted. She said when she was in college, she remembers World AIDS Day activities, especially the AIDS Memorial Quilt on display for the entire month.
“I do think people are unaware,” she said. “It’s never talked about. It’s hushed over. This helps as a reminder that you have to protect yourself.”
Cochise College’s World AIDS Day events will be held in collaboration with the Southeastern Arizona HIV/AIDS Consortium. For more information on World AIDS Day, click here.