Teenworks is Teamwork
A report from the annual teenworks conference
Author:
Serafin Villanueva, Christina Bustamante
The teenagers were surprised when they saw Mr. Woody,
and they were even more surprised when Alejandra
demonstrated how to correctly put a condom on Mr.
Woody. Mr. Woody, an imitation penis, made our
workshop, “Sex: The Hot Topic”, a big success with
teenagers at the Teenworks Conference in Anaheim,
California.
The Teenworks conference was a gathering of teenagers
from different counties in California who were
associated with the Friday Night Live crew. Six of us
were invited to participate from the PSI Watsonville
program. Most of the groups gave presentations on
issues facing their communities.
In Sex: The Hot Topic, we talked about the facts about
STD’s, pregnancy, prevention, and how to put a condom
on. We told attendees that in 2003, 358 teenager girls
gave birth in Santa Cruz County and 305 (85%) of them
were from Watsonville. We taught that one in four
sexually active teens will get a sexually transmitted
disease during adolescence.
The second presentation our group gave was “Nutrition:
Staying Fit,” which taught how to make healthy eating
choices. It also educated people how much fat are in
junk food. In the game “Guess the Goop,” we taught
that 25 teaspoons of sugar are in a 32-ounce can of
soda and 17 grams of fat are in a double cheeseburger,
large fries and a chocolate milkshake.
Although Serafin was caught in an elevator for forty-
five minutes with twenty other people, he did finally
get out safely and returned to the Teenworks
conference. Besides learning that elevators aren’t the
safest things to ride, we learned that we as teenagers
can change our community by making the right
decisions, by setting an example for younger people.
We returned from the Teenworks conference with a
better understand of the problems happing in our
community as well as the other communities in
California.
Not only did we give presentations, but we also
attended other presentations and learned about binge
drinking, tobacco, HIV/AIDS, teenage violence. We
learned about two teenagers who helped to pass
legislation to ban the sale of gun ammunition in the
city of Los Angeles. We learned that binge drinking
can kill the drinker and other people. We learned
about the numerous chemicals in cigarettes.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for our teens to be
exposed to other teens who were out there trying to
make change, and also to give them a chance to shine
and be the Peer Educators they strive to be,” said
Mayana Lea, the Teen Advocacy Program Intern who
accompanied us on the trip. “We look forward to
returning to L.A. next year.”