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Teens Inspire Peers to Live Healthy Lives at Uptown Health Conference

 Teens of the Land Youth Medical Program and the George Washington High School Campus’ (TRUTHe) School-Based Peer Education Program conducted workshops, presentations and games to teach other teens in the community about health.
Teens of the Land Youth Medical Program and the George Washington High School Campus’ (TRUTHe) School-Based Peer Education Program conducted workshops, presentations and games to teach other teens in the community about health.
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DNAinfo/Carolina Pichardo

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — More than 100 Uptown teens spent Saturday learning about ways to improve their mental health, be aware of the influence of media and discuss the challenges of having safe sex — in an all-day conference organized and led by their peers.

The Teen Health Conference, which took place at the Vagelos Education Center on 104 Haven Ave., was organized for local students by students of the George Washington High School Campus’ Teens Remaining United Through Health Education (TRUTHe) School-Based Peer Education Program and the Lang Youth Medical Program.

The conference, which featured organizations like Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation, Project Stay, and the New York-Presbyterian Ambulatory Care Network’s own program, Choosing Healthy and Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK), held everything from health workshops run by teens, to Zumba classes and Twister anatomy, where students combined the traditional game of Twister with learning the body parts.

“The importance of this teen health conference is for it to be from a teen to a teen. It’s peer education at its best. We really wanted it to be that way,” said Mara Minguez, MD Medical Director of the Lang Youth Medical Program. “The faces they see standing in front of the rooms, when giving the workshops, look just like them. They’re teenagers. They’re peers.”

Minguez said the conference overall is fun, hands-on and allows kids to learn in a safe environment.

Leeann Rizk, who runs the TRUTHe program, Maria Molina, project manager of Lang, said the students organized the workshops and presented based on whatever they felt was important.

Rizk emphasized that her students led workshops based on identifying consent when it comes to sex, among other topics.

“The selection of the workshops is based on what they’re trained on, so basically they’re trained as peer educators,” said Rizk, adding that TRUTHe students work with students from seven other TRUTHe schools.

Molina said the students also volunteered their time for the workshops and even brainstormed the topics on their own.

“They’re the ones with the theme. They came up with ideas to include at stations, so we basically just made their ideas happen,” Molina said. “They did it themselves based on the curriculum they’ve studied.”

Rosie Hendricks, 15, of Washington Heights has been studying mental health for a year, and presented three times in a group setting within the program. Her goal, she said, is to break down the stigma around depression and mental illness.

“I wanted to make other people aware of what some people are going through, and what some people are experiencing,” said Hendricks, adding that her workshop was aimed at making teens realize they’re “not alone and we’re all in this together.”

Jose Sanchez, 16, said his workshop, which he presented alongside Alba Bryant, 15, and Fatou Ndiaye, 15, focused on the “psychological effects” of media on minority groups.

“We wanted to focus on very different minority groups, like LGBTQ community and female community, and how the media represents them individually,” Sanchez said.

“If you get bullied and feel down about yourself, and then go home and watch TV and see people like you represented in a negative way, that already adds on another point to you and makes you feel less than who you really [are]… and sets a precedent of how minorities feel inferior to others, when in reality that shouldn’t be the case,” Bryant said.

Minguez said the center hopes to be able to continue to grow the program, and visit other local sites in the future.