School's almost out, but safe sex is still in

The University of Chicago, known for famous teachers such as Barack Obama and Milton Friedman, welcomed one unique teacher for a day: Trojan.

Arriving on a 40-foot bus, representatives from the condom maker pulled onto campus Wednesday to educate students on practicing better sexual behavior.

The visit is part of an 18-campus tour begun in March to raise awareness about STD (sexually transmitted diseases), and start a dialogue that tour sexual health educator Kari Kuka said is missing in America.

"We have a tough time talking about sex in general. When we're just driving down the street, we're starting a conversation. We're evolving a conversation of, 'Hey, look, what does this mean?' And getting people to start the conversation of, 'hey, oh my god, I didn't know that one in four college students has an STD. I didn't know that one in four teen girls, age 14-19 just got diagnosed with an STD or STI [Sexually Transmitted Infections].' It's really imperative that we start talking about it to keep our young people healthy," Kuka said.

Rather than sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture, students were given a more hands-on lesson. They took part in a relay race to teach them the proper way to put on a condom and trivia testing their knowledge of STD statistics.

At the end, they were asked to sign a pledge to better their sexual health and help others do the same. Kuka estimated that between 300 and 500 students have signed the pledge at each college and university visited.

Figures from the Center for Disease Control and indicate that more students should take a similar pledge.

Last month, the CDC announced that preliminary data found that the national syphilis rate rose for the seventh consecutive year in 2007. According to its 2006 surveillance, sexually active adolescents between 10 to 19 and young adults 20 to 24 were found to be more vulnerable to getting an STD, specifically Chlamydia and gonorrhea.

In health data put together by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Illinois had the highest rate of AIDS cases and the fourth highest of Chlamydia in the nation.

Kuka pointed to similar numbers to emphasize the importance of the tour instead of the famous brand name behind it.

"This is not a product dissemination tour. This is not about getting people to buy condoms. This is about people changing their [sexual] behavior."

Freshman Trey Talley, who participated in the tour's relay race, said the activities were beneficial to students, like himself, whose high schools might not have taught the proper way store a condom.

"We didn't do that in my high school. It was abstinence-based," Talley said.

Kristyn Genrich, health educator for the university's Student Care Center, was on hand with volunteers to pass out more detailed information on STD's and the center's outreach to students. She sees the Trojan tour as a different method to go along with the work the center has been doing.

"We figured this was a novel way of getting the information out there. There are simple steps you can take to be educated about STDs. It just takes a minute," Genrich said.

By far the oldest participant, university staffer Nita Yack had not planned to take part in any of the events. She jokingly brought over her daughter's boyfriend, who is working on campus for the summer.

After watching (happily) him pass sexual trivia, she decided to go for the relay race. Winning the race easily, Yack had only one reason for her victory.

"I've had experience."