This exposure helps students to understand what HIV positive means to an individual and what it’s like to live with HIV. This component increases compassion and fights against HIV stigma.
The final component involves full cooperation from the school and the students who were involved in the AMP! program. With the help of the Center, the school can sustain the program with as many or as few components as they choose. “The best case scenario,” Elisabeth says, “is for the school and the students to start their own Sex Squad to lead performance and dialogue on their campus.” Other sustainable activities implemented by the Center include mentoring and guiding the students in several art-making activities to further explore their emotions and to bond creatively to what they’ve learned through AMP!
To date, AMP! has reached hundreds of teens and has improved their learning experience in sexual health education and has allowed
them to creatively express their knowledge base and emotions around sexual health and sexuality. This past year, AMP! has spread outside the Los Angeles area to pilot programs in Atlanta, Georgia; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Mexico City, Mexico.
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