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By ANNE KAROLYI; Times Leader Staff Writer
Friday, December 02, 1994 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE — Before school Thursday, 16-year-old Matt Hopersberger
pinned a red ribbon to his sweater. The Dallas High School junior wanted to
mark World AIDS Day, established to recognize the global fight against
acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
He said his classmates never heard of the day. His teachers didn’t mention
it.
“I went to the office to ask why, and the question was ignored. I was
pushed from one person to the other,” Hopersberger said. “How can the students
find out about this if the schools aren’t telling them?”
A very good question, responded a panel of AIDS educators who gathered at
Wilkes University’s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center.
Hopersberger, two classmates and about 30 other people attended a
discussion about AIDS education Thursday night, part of the university’s AIDS
awareness week.
The low turnout was an indicator of the challenges schools face — lack of
community interest in a topic wrought with sensitive issues, said Marian
Sutter, HIV/AIDS education coordinator for the state Department of Education.
Schools need to educate students fully about AIDS and sex, Sutter said. In
1991, the state surveyed high school students statewide about their sexual
practices. Forty-eight percent said they had sex, and 7 percent of them said
they had sex before they were 13 years old, Sutter said.
The panelists encountered some differences that schools also discover in
their communities. Diocese of Scranton spokesman Dan Gallagher, for example,
stressed that Catholic schools discuss “saved sex” with students, urging them
to wait.
By assuming children will have sex, “we underestimate a young person’s
ability to make proper and moral decisions,” Gallagher said.
Catherine Balsley, a Philadelphia school administrator, disagreed. Schools
should stress abstinence but cannot ignore sexually active teenagers, she
said.
Schools can do both, said Duane Crumb, executive director of the American
Institute for Teen AIDS Prevention, based in Fort Worth, Texas.
Focus most of your efforts on the 52 percent of students who aren’t yet
having sex, Crumb said. Then, create an atmosphere where students feel
comfortable asking any question.
“Then, you won’t have to raise the issues, as a school. The kids will ask
you everything,” Crumb said.
After the session, about 45 people stood in the cold night outside the
Stark Learning Center and listened to Andrew, a Luzerne County resident living
with AIDS.
“Your weapon in this war is love, hope and education,” Andrew said, before
the group lighted candles and stood for several minutes in silent reflection.
TIMES LEADER/FRED ADAMS
Christina Poff, a Wilkes sophomore, joins about 45 other people in a few
minutes of reflection and silence to commemorate World AIDS Day Thursday on
the university campus.
Special week to end with ca