Teens in Central New York are learning the importance of AIDS awareness through an AIDS Community Resources program called Teen AIDS Task Force.

The task force gives teens an opportunity to volunteer in their community by educating their peers about the prevention of a rising epidemic in today’s world, HIV/AIDS.

“Teen AIDS Task Force is a peer leadership program,” Jana Gaeta, 28, TATF coordinator said. “At the beginning of the year, all Teen AIDS Task Force members go through a comprehensive HIV education training. During the training they learn the history of HIV, how the disease progresses and what other infections or diseases usually come together in late stages of the disease.”

“Obviously they learn about risky behavior and different ways on how they can eliminate the risk depending on the behavior,” Gaeta said.

Last year, 340 TATF Peer Educators from 30 schools throughout CNY held almost 200 educational sessions with about 4,000 students. The TATF has increased their outreach from 30 chapters to 36 in the past year alone.

“After seeing the AIDS quilt and hearing about the different people who died from AIDS, what they went through and how the quilt symbolized them and their life, I think that affected all of us a lot to be a part of the program,” said Asha Shirwa, a senior at Nottingham High School and a member of Nottingham’s TATF chapter.

Participation in the program gives teens the opportunity to spread prevention messages to other teens and provides a number of opportunities for them to earn community service hours.

“I joined student leadership and TATF last year with an open mind,” Thien An Huynh, a senior at Nottingham said. “I thought the class was just like any other typical class where you do volunteer work and then Jana came and showed us a presentation of how we could get HIV and how it could develop into AIDS.”

“I think that this program really educates teens that don’t know about sex,” Huynh said

According to a 2008-2009 TATF summary, students who took an HIV 101 health class received an average score of 80 percent correct on the pretest compared to an average score of 93 percent on the posttest.

Initial surveys given to students in the schools by TATF members compared to year-end surveys showed that teen’s sexual activity dropped by 8 percent (50 to 42 percent), birth control use rose 2 percent (56 to 58 percent), teens using condoms or other protective barriers rose 12 percent (63 to 75 percent), and 100 percent of teens reported an increased knowledge and understanding of HIV, STDs and find themselves making safer choices about sexual activities as a direct result of their involvement with TATF.

“They have more of an understanding, especially when their parents don’t want to talk to them about it because it’s awkward,” Huynh said.

Huynh said TATF did a live TV show to talk to teens and adolescents about sex because they understand many of their parents will not.

“This year we talked about how to talk to your parents about sex and if you can’t, where you can go to get help,” Huynh said.

ACR covers nine counties in CNY. Gaeta said she is covering all high schools and middle schools that are willing to work with her from four of those nine counties, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego and Madison.

“Many parents, if you think about it, when you teach sex education, they think that it’s encouraging their children to start having sex, so they don’t accept it,” Gaeta said.

TATF trainings are based on the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States guidelines. If a school’s administration feels that a specific topic is not appropriate, the TATF will adhere to the sexual education policies of that school.

Along with teaching HIV and STD education and prevention to their peers, TATF also conducts fundraisers, field trips, and sponsors talks from the ACR Speakers Bureau comprised of people living with AIDS.