Hello!

We are Angie and Chelsea! We are so sad that our time with Mrs. Kirk’s Gr. 9 girls health class at QECVI has come to an end. Although we only had a few weeks in the class, we covered a variety of topics in sexual health.

In our first class we wanted to ensure that the material we would be covering was going to be valuable and useful to them. The girls were quick to all identify pregnancy as a major health concern among their peers. We targeted our lessons towards this issue, as well as other ones they acknowledged as prevalent. As such, we believe the girls acquired the knowledge and skills to make informed health decisions in the future.

We discussed what sources of information were accurate and reliable. In the following few classes we covered contraception, the implications of becoming pregnant and healthy relationships. Our final lesson covered sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We discussed how infections were transmitted, symptoms, prevention and treatment.

Throughout our time in the classroom we debunked some of the common misconceptions related to contraception and STIs, demonstrating the vast amount of false information that prevails in society and the importance of critically thinking.

Recognizing that everyone has a different comfort level with these subjects, we were so proud of the girls’ participation in discussions and class activities. Together we feel that peer education was a highly effective method to convey this health information to an adolescent population. Sexual health can sometimes be awkward or uncomfortable, but we believe peer education helped to minimize these feelings and create and open environment. We feel privileged to have been welcomed into this class, loved all their questions and wish them a happy rest of high school full of healthy choices.   Thats all for now!

Angie & Chelsea