By Maranda, former peer educator with MySistahs

My name is Maranda. I graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, I remember my fifth grade health class like it was yesterday. The day we had 'the talk' about the reproductive system remains vivid to me because sexuality was not discussed openly in my family.

Many of my questions were answered by reading health books, but I was aware that not all of my questions could be answered by books. I had no one to talk to about the changes my body was undergoing, and it was this feeling of loneliness and the desire to help others avoid the same isolation that cultivated my passion for public health and health education.

As the Vice President of SHAPE (Student Health Associates and Peer Educators) at Spelman, I helped provide students, mostly young women of color, with health education workshops and panel discussions. When the SHAPE advisor informed us that the school policy stated that no condoms were to be made available on campus unless they were distributed by Student Health Services, we decided that policy needed to be changed. We believed condoms should be more accessible and in spaces that are more comfortable for students to access.

Another SHAPE member and I put our concerns about the restrictive policy in writing and sent a letter to the office of the President of Spelman College. Two weeks passed and we heard nothing, so we decided to go to the Student Affairs Office to schedule an appointment with the Dean. Two days later, we found that we had been rescheduled. When we checked to confirm that appointment, we found that the Dean had cancelled the appointment and referred us to the Director of Health Services.

We did not give up! We met with the Director of Health Services and shared our concerns about the policy. She agreed with most of our suggestions and we got her to agree to waive the restrictive policy. It was a victory not just for us, but for all current and future Spelman students.

My work as a peer educator and research intern, and my coursework has helped me understand the full range of challenges that women, particularly poor minority women, face in protecting their reproductive health. As a young African American woman, I think it is incredibly important to create health education programs that respond to the needs of minority women and reduce cultural barriers to health care. My work as a youth activist has not yet finished; it has hardly begun.