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SEPTEMBER 23, 2014
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S T U D E N T S ,
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VOLUME 12 ¤ ISSUE 2
S T U D E N T S
T H E
SMCC’s Sexual Awareness Week Sex-Ed; It’s Not Just About Abstinence
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hat started out as a ServiceLearning project for a Leadership Philosophy class became an annual Awareness Week for Rik Sawyer from the CeSIL office (Center for Student Involvement and Leadership). With the help of Shane Long, Director of Residence Life and Student Involvement, and Madelyn Holm, the AmeriCorps Vista Civic Engagement Coordinator, he planned a plethora of events that sheds light on issues surrounding sexual health, concerns, and healthy relationships. For the second year running, “Sexual Awareness Week” was made possible by the CeSIL office here in SMCC and student volunteers. The series of events held this year ranged from: “Speak about It,” an open discussion focused on healthy relationships and the importance of consent, “The Sexperts,” a forum-like panel of experts answering questions directed by students, “The Dating Game,” a game inspired by the famous television show staring Chuck Woolery, “Condom Casino,” an event held at the Campus Center where students get to enjoy games such as Texas holdem and Jeopardy using condoms as chips, and finally, the film screening of “Let’s Talk about Sex.” A comparative documentary on the different attitudes towards intercourse between American adolescents and their European counterparts, which ended the week of sexual awareness on a Friday night. One of the students who went to “Speak about it” described the event
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as “intense, yet funny” alluding to the energetic presentation that had real life examples that “reflect real relationships and real sexuality,” while Gina, one of the “Sexperts” from Nomia Erotic Boutique, claimed that it was one of the best forums she had ever attended stating that the crowd of 22 was sophisticated and had insightful questions. Carlin Whitehouse, a student here at SMCC, as well as the host of “The Dating Game,” also revealed that he had a ball of a time being “Tom Foolery” for SMCC’s version of the popular show.
Screwing around during the sex week seminar.
Photo by Kenneth Reddinger
Remembering Strength in Silence on the bugle as the flag was lowered by security officers to half-mast. The ceremony ended with Professor Dave MacLean playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes.
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cloudy Thursday morning in September did not daunt a crowd of 60 from uniting to remember 9/11 here on the SMCC South Portland campus. They were gathered in front of the Campus Center as Ms. Tiffanie Bentley, the Dean of Student Life, uttered a brief yet poignant soliloquy on the strength of the community in times of adversity before honoring the men and women in uniform who had defended and are still defending the United States against terrorism happening all around the world. Her speech was followed by a moment of silence. Bryan Noyes, a veteran and former SMCC student who currently is working at the Maine Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) then played taps
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An assembly of 40 students and faculty members attended a ceremony at the Mid-Coast campus, which is home to the Maine Fire Service Institute (MFSI). William Guidon, the Director of MFSI, addressed the gathering on the importance of remembering the heroic acts and sacrifices of servicemen and civilians on that day and on being thankful for the progress the nation has made thus far. Then a moment of silence was observed as the American flag was ¤
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lowered to half-mass by a staff member from the MFSI. People were also encouraged to visit the 9/11 Memorial they had on campus. Across the nation, people gathered in many different ways to remember the day. Ceremonies ranged from: the 3,000-named roll call at the 9/11 museum, the two beams of light projected into the sky above the World Trade Center site, wearing a light blue ribbon, writing a one woman play, having a pancake brunch, as well as the numerous moments worth of silence. In varying degrees of emotional intensity, all of them had one thing in common – remembering the people: the heroic servicemen and women, the fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons who perished that faithful day. Surely, their deeds and strength live on in our moments of silence and in our hearts.
By Maisarah Miskoon
By Maisarah Miskoon
Photo by Clark Canfield
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Similar to the actual show, contestants were asked provocative questions, as well as some serious ones concerning sexual issues such as sexual abuse. The ones who were able to do so got the crowd’s approval and won themselves a date. This event attracted about 40 students from the residence halls. Mr. Whitehouse further observed that the participants were more reserved than expected, but alluded that to the beginning of the semester where students were still getting to know each other and hoped for participants to be more engaging in the future. The main agenda of the week was evident in every one of the events that are planned. During a brief interview with Shane Long, he mentioned that the week’s focus is on “healthy relationships” and “not about abstinence” after revealing that much of the sexual education taught in high school for the last 10 years were focused on the latter rather than educating adolescents on safer and consensual sex. The array of topics that included sexual assaults and counseling were presented in an entertaining and relatable yet educational way. He further emphasized that having a week of events such as this ensures a well-informed student body and hopefully, prevent any problems in the future. He added that SMCC has “a very good policy and the college is very conscientious when dealing with cases of sexual misconduct due to a very structured process (that we have) in place versus a lot of other schools”. This is imperative with the rise of sexual violence in many of the renowned colleges across the nation and their mishandling of such cases. In one such case, Emma Sulkowicz who is a student at Columbia University resorted to dragging her mattress around campus as a performance piece in protest of the college’s decision to allow her rapist to continue his studies. This action rallied more than a 100 fellow students to do the same to affect change within the school policies. Ultimately however, she had to carry the weight of the assault on her shoulder, a burden which never should had happen to begin with. With awareness and counseling services here in SMCC, Shane Long hopes that cases like this would be prevented due to education, support, and openness between student, teachers, and staff. If you do need someone to talk to, or know someone who does, please call 207-741-5629 or email counseling@ smccME.edu. Alternatively, you can call Family Crisis hotline at 1866-8344357 or check out their website at www.familycrisis.org.
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