University students had the chance to support AIDS prevention by participating in the second annual Dance Against AIDS on Feb. 19.

The event, founded in 2003 by the McKinley Sexual Health Peer Educators, raises money to benefit local HIV/AIDS prevention and education groups.

“HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is not something that people have to contract. There are many ways of preventing its spread,” said Ariel Clemenzi, education programs coordinator for the Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois. “The Dance Against AIDS celebrates the fact that people can take control of their lives and prevent the spread of HIV by abstaining from oral, vaginal and anal sex and not using injection drugs, or by using condoms or latex barriers with sex.

“All of the benefits from the Dance Against AIDS will be divided between the Teen Awareness Group (TAG), the McKinley Sexual Health Peer Educators and the Greater Community AIDS Project (GCAP),” Clemenzi said. “These groups provide resources for people thinking about having sex, including workshops on safe sex and abstinence.”

GCAP assists people living with HIV/AIDS by providing them with services and assistance, including food and housing.

“The students (of the Sexual Health Peer Educators) felt that this was a topic that wasn’t talked about on campus,” said Kim Rice, Sex Health Educator of McKinley Health Center.

The Sexual Health Peer Educators’ goal is to educate college students on how to prevent the spread of STDs, including HIV/AIDS, through workshops on abstinence and safe sex.

“This is a way for the community and the campus to link up together on the issue,” said Carla Vassilos, intern for the Sexual Health Peer Educators and senior in LAS.

Clemenzi said the first year of the event had more than 250 participants and raised over $1,400 to support HIV/AIDS education and services.

“It was a huge success, which we hoped to build on at this year’s event,” she said.

Clemenzi, however, emphasized the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS situation. She said hundreds of thousands of people are infected with the virus every year and that a quarter of those infected don’t know it.

“Women are contracting HIV at faster rates than ever before, and a new strand of the virus that is resistant to treatment and progresses very fast from HIV to AIDS has recently been found in one New York man,” Clemenzi said. “This is not a problem that is going away anytime soon, so we need to act now and start educating the youth about how to prevent the spread of HIV.”

Rice said she feels that the Dance Against AIDS provides an excellent opportunity to do what Clemenzi proposed: educate.

“A lot of kids don’t know anything about sex and that is scary,” said Zoe Ginsburg, member of TAG and resident of Urbana.

TAG prides itself in being able to help inform teens about every aspect of sex.

“It’s great to educate teens about sex and how to have healthy relationships,” said Zoe Swords, member of TAG and resident of Urbana.

Rice said the dance is beneficial in many ways because not only does the event raise money for AIDS awareness, it also helps bring the community and campus together in a social setting to reach a common goal.

“It’s a very fun way and an entertaining way to promote HIV awareness and education,” Rice said. “It’s a diverse group coming out to dance and everyone walks away learning something new.”