Knowledge is POWER (GAMMA)

Story by Mia Walsh

Student organizations are here to build community. POWER/GAMMA keeps ours safe through peer-to-peer education.

POWER/GAMMA offers many resources for Ohio University students, and their testing clinics are one of them.

POWER/GAMMA, or Promoting Ohio University Wellness, Education and Responsibility/Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol, promotes health through their peer-to-peer programming at Ohio University. POWER/GAMMA members and committees meet weekly to collaborate on programs.

POWER/GAMMA is a resource for topics such as sexually transmitted infections(STIs), nutrition, responsible alcohol consumption, sexual assault, bystander intervention and more to spread awareness and help educate students. Mady Nutter, a senior studying journalism, fulfills the roles of Social Media Manager and co-head of the Sexual Health and Relationships committee. Backdrop sat down with Nutter to learn more about the benefits of POWER/GAMMA.

In your own words, what is POWER/GAMMA?

“POWER/GAMMA is an on-campus peer health education organization. Basically, what we do is we program to people who are our peers. POWER/GAMMA really is a huge resource for this campus. Since it is peer-to-peer education, there's not this aspect of anyone telling you what to do. It's really like peer health recommendations. It's more of like when you're in that room, it's not like I feel like I'm some kind of teacher as a peer health educator. It's like I'm just like one of my peers who is just out there trying to help them and keep everyone safe. POWER/GAMMA is about protecting your Bobcat family at all times. Peer health educators are there todo that. They're there to spread the information that you need to know in order to be safe, regardless of what kind of choices or decisions you're making. We're not there to tell anyone what to do. We're just there to tell people how to do things safely if they're going to do it at all, because not equipping people with that information is what gets people hurt.”

Why might new students seek out POWER/GAMMA as a resource?

“Freshmen are introduced to POWER/GAMMA pretty early on through Choices. A lot of people think Choices is just like Alcohol EDU, but really, it is so much more. It's discussions of consent and bystander intervention. Of course, there is really important info on alcohol since a lot of people think that OU has this reputation of being some crazy party school, but the truth is that we actually have a very large healthy majority. So I think students should seek out POWER/GAMMA for that kind of info alone, especially once they get introduced to us through Choices.”

“We also have other services as well, like latex demos and latex[free]and nonlatex condoms. Our latex [session] includes internal and external condoms and dental dams. So we do have that offered and we can give you free latex after we do a condom demo for you or just like show you how to use latex, then you can take it.”

“We also do referrals for contraceptive counseling and HIV prevention. We have this event called “Get yourself tested”; that's where we offer free STI testing. So that's also a huge resource on campus. That was the first place that I got STI tested, and I think it's just really important to normalize things like taking care of yourself, and how have you taken care of yourself and your health, especially in the context of STI testing. I think we're a great resource and, you know, colleges, you're coming into being an adult and learning how to take care of yourself, and what better organization to reach out to than a peer health education organization to help you with that.”

You must take a semester-long training course to join POWER/GAMMA. Can you explain what it is like?

“The course has changed a couple of times over the years and just kind of fluctuates year to year because it is a peer class and we're doing it through a certification that's entirely separate from the school through NASPA(National Association of Student Personnel Administrators). When I did it, it was just like two classes a week. The workload isn't anything crazy. It's a really collaborative class. When you're in class, you're going through the programs that you're going to be teaching someday. So you're in the class taking a lot of notes not just on what the program is, but on how you're going to program it. I think that's interesting.”

If you have one general idea you would like to say to the first years that are thinking about joining, what would you want them to know?

“Becoming a Peer Health Educator was probably one of the best decisions I [made]at Ohio University. This organization connects you to so many incredible people, and passionate educators. Knowing those people has been one of the greatest pleasures of my time at Ohio University. You're connected not only to these people but to resources to other organizations on campus that we interact with all the time. If you want to get well-connected, you should join POWER/GAMMA. We're just all a bunch of Peer Health Education nerds.”

“Another thing I want them to know is that you don't have to be one kind of peer health educator, you can really make this your own. I'm super interested in sexual health and wellness, so I hone in on those things more so than my peers who might hone in on Alcohol EDU or smoking or vaping or tobacco use. You don't have to be any one type of educator, we have our different committees like alcohol and other drugs, general health and wellness, sexual health and wellness, stuff like that. Really, you can do whatever you want with it. We all have our little specialties and even if you have a similar interest to someone else, that typically becomes the person that you collab with on a lot of programs. I love that. It really is a great org.”

Are there any events you’d like to plug?

“We have “Safe and Sexy.” It’s a sexual health and wellness fair that we have on campus. Usually, it is around Valentine's Day. This year, we got to do it in the spring outside. That’s a really cool event that we do that pulls a lot of people. It's like kind of carnival-style, and there's usually games and prizes and stuff like that. We also have Safe Spring Break, which obviously we haven't gotten to do here, but usually, that's when we would have [it], the week before spring break. We would table each day with a new topic or something like that.”

Applications to join POWER/GAMMA can be found on their Bobcat Connect page. Those interested can schedule a program from POWER/GAMMA through the Ohio University Health Promotions portal online.

The POWER/GAMMA Instagram is @powergamma_ou which has links to access Bobcat Connect and more ways to get involved.

A flyer found on Facebook for those interesting in joining POWER / GAMMA.