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BSA hosts AIDS awareness week |
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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 |
by JAMISON DORAN
News Reporter
The Black Student Association will host an AIDS Awareness Week through Friday to benefit efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic.
“I
hope that this has a positive impact on campus because AIDS and HIV are
diseases that affect everyone,” T. Shanel Boston, a junior English,
secondary education major and president of BSA, said.
The purpose of the week is to help bring awareness to the Appalachian
State University community about AIDS and how it affects the lives of
those who have it, as well as to raise money for AIDS research.
According to worldaidsday.org, over 40 million people worldwide are
living with HIV, with only 1.3 million of them having access to
treatment.
The weeklong event kicked off Monday with speaker Shelton Jackson from
Hope’s Voice, which is a national campaign to raise AIDS awareness.
According to the Hope’s Voice Web site, Jackson was diagnosed with HIV
in 1996 after his partner was also diagnosed with the disease. They
continued their relationship until Jackson’s partner died in 2003.
Jackson released a book in 2005 and has since helped people who are in
different stages of AIDS and HIV. His second book was just released.
There will be contact tables in the student union Tuesday through
Thursday where students can get more information on AIDS awareness,
Tracey L. Wright, assistant vice chancellor for student development,
said.
The Tuesday contact tables will be for a “Pledge to Protect,” which will be a day for the campus to commit to safer sex.
There will still be a contact table Wednesday, but no special events
due to the annual Kwanzaa celebration that will be held at Legends.
There will be an AIDS Expo in Plemmons Student Union Nov. 30 that will focus on AIDS and AIDS Awareness.
The end of all these events will take place Friday with “Partying for a Purpose.”
World AIDS Day is Friday and BSA will host a dance party at Legends where all proceeds will go to the Youth AIDS Organization.
“We are not gearing this to the usual ‘hip-hop’ Legends crowd, and we
hope that in doing so, we will create a more diverse atmosphere,”
Boston said.
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