Job Description

Peer Health Exchange – Intern

When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to receive a comprehensive sexual health education. I went to school in a suburb of New York City. I can imagine that the sex-ed I got was very different from that of someone living in Montgomery, Alabama. Think back to yours. Were you aware that safe sex is an option, and you don’t have to abstain until marriage? Were you given a list of all the existing contraceptive methods and their effectiveness?

I worked with a non-profit organization called Peer Health Exchange that answers all the questions above, and many more. It provides a 13-week curriculum in which 9^th graders learn the facts and skills to make decisions regarding their health. It’s called Peer Health Exchange because we train college students to teach these 9^th graders about mental health, sexual health, and substance use. Peer Health Exchange has offices in 5 major cities (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago), and works with 21 different colleges. In L.A., Peer Health Exchange partners with California State University – Northridge, California State University – Dominguez Hills, Occidental College, and the University of Southern California.

I interned with Peer Health Exchange – Los Angeles one year ago. My main responsibility was to manage the Accessing Resources pilot program at USC which included:

·      Recruiting volunteers

·      Leading volunteer meetings

·      Writing the curriculum 

Recruiting Volunteers

The national organization’s leadership wanted to carry out a new curriculum nationwide and they chose one of USC’s partner high schools, Animo Inglewood, to be the guinea pig. I was in charge of recruiting volunteers who would teach the new set of workshops at that school. These volunteers would be responsible for teaching their old workshops as well as the new ones, so I had to find people who were very dedicated to Peer Health Exchange’s mission. Although challenging, I managed to recruit a few members who had the time and interest to take on this new responsibility.       

Leading Volunteer Meetings

Since these volunteers were a part of my project, I led one-hour weekly meetings with them before our whole cohort met together. My supervisor and Peer Health Exchange – Nationals sent me guidelines and objectives for each meeting, which I then tailored to my group’s needs.

A typical meeting went as follows:

1)    Start with a five-minute icebreaker

2)    Reflect over the last period we taught to gather any logistical information

3)    Go over the workshop we were teaching that week

4)    Distribute the workshop materials kit

5)    Practice one part of the workshop in front of everyone

6)    Sign up for our workshop periods online    

I really enjoyed running these weekly meetings. For one of our icebreakers, I asked each volunteer to draw their ideal day. I only gave them a couple of minutes, but they still managed to be creative! One girl drew an elaborate beach scene, while someone else just drew themselves in bed with a pizza and video games. I liked to find new ways of getting to know each other rather than the same, overused icebreakers like “share a fun fact about yourself!” or “speed-dating”. 

Writing the Curriculum

My favorite part of managing the Accessing Resources pilot was writing the curriculum. I had access to a box account which held all the workshops Peer Health Exchange – Nationals wrote. Unfortunately, these were specific to the Washington, D.C. area. As a result, I researched the necessary information about Los Angeles and the communities around Animo Inglewood so I could tailor the workshops by removing any activities students wouldn’t enjoy and include:

·      Health clinics that were within a five-mile radius of the high school

·      Resources offered by the high school.

I loved working with Peer Health Exchange. It is an organization that does important work in our community and strives to improve the lives of its students. Working behind the scenes exposed me to all the work and preparation that goes into our weekly volunteer meetings. I was able to leave a legacy with the Accessing Resources Pilot. My supervisor told me that they always refer back to my notes to make sure that the curriculum we teach is up to date. Certain ideas I implemented, such as including one-page high school fact sheets with the workshop curriculum, are still used in practice today. I hope to one day impact my community as Peer Health Exchange – Los Angeles does in its own.