Teen Pregnancy Prevention Days Slated For Valley View

BOLINGBROOK, IL – May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention month, and health educators from the Family Health Services Division at the Will County Health Department are getting ready for special “Making a Difference” and “Making Proud Choices” days during the lunch periods at Valley View School District Hubert Humphrey Middle School and Bolingbrook High School.

Health department educators having been teaching a CDC evidence-based pregnancy prevention program at Bolingbrook High School, Phoenix Experience Alternative School and Hubert Humphrey Middle School this school year thanks to a grant. Will County Health Department Program Manager Cindy Jackson applied for an Office of Adolescent Health Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grant to implement this program in the Valley View School District after the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) approached the health department. Bolingbrook was identified by IDHS for this grant due to the higher rate of teen births and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) among adolescents in Bolingbrook. The Will County Health Department became one of seven Illinois grantees for the program.

The plan is for more students to think about their futures and making the right choices during a special day at Humphrey Middle School on Friday, May 19, and then at Bolingbrook High School on Monday, May 22. On both days, Will County Health Department Educators will have a table set up with a banner display and will be wearing promotional T-shirts during each lunchroom period. The T-shirts will say #Warriors#Goals#Dreams for the Humphrey students, and #Raiders#Goals#Dreams for the BHS Students.

“For students today and all the social media, everything seems to be ‘hashtag this’ and ‘hashtag that,’” said Health Department Educator Shree Woods. “That’s why we decided to put it on both the banners and the shirts, to give this more of a fun, familiar feeling that they could relate to.”

But Kathleen Harkins, who teaches the pregnancy prevention program at Humphrey, says there is certainly a serious approach to this as well.

“On the first day of class, we have the students fill out a card about their goals, their dreams, where they would like to be in five or 10 years," she said. "The idea is to have them really think about getting to those goals, and realizing that an unplanned pregnancy or STD (sexually transmitted disease) could derail those goals. It’s all about making better, more informed choices.”

On the days of the health department educators’ appearance at Humphrey and BHS, students will be invited to fill out a card with their dreams and goals, just like the students who have taken the class. The banners will then be placed in the schools’ hallways, with all the “dreams and goals cards” filled out around the banner. When students fill out their dreams and goals cards, they will be given prizes, including the chance to win gift cards and t-shirts.

According to the health department, Valley View District will be expanding this program next year to two other middle schools, Brooks and Jane Addams. In addition, the program’s curriculum will be expanded to Romeoville High School, where it will be taught by district teachers.

Read more via the Will County Health Department

Via the Will County Health Department

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