Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

39° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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NU health symposium unites area students

About 40 students from Northwestern, Loyola University and the University of Illinois at Chicago attended the first annual Collegiate Health Education Symposium Saturday on the second floor of the Norris University Center.

The program was a joint effort of NU’s Peer Health Educators and similar programs at Loyola and UIC. The symposium was sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation Division of Traffic Safety and the Eastern Illinois University Office of Safety Programs.

The symposium included sessions on “club drugs” such as rohypnol; the effects of body image; the prevention of STDs; and meditation. There also was a health fair where organizations from Evanston and the surrounding area provided students with general information about local organizations and about volunteer and internship opportunities.

Most NU students at the symposium were PHEs, but other health education groups on campus also were invited to the event. Several health aides and friends of PHEs went to get more information on the topics of the symposium.

Weinberg senior Tejal Shah, the former community outreach chair for PHE, said she got the idea for a symposium during Winter Quarter. She said she hoped the event would give students from different universities a chance to interact with others involved in similar programs.

Shah said she considers the symposium a success. She hopes it will become an annual event.

Weinberg sophomore Debb Farr, PHE co-president, praised the speakers and organization of the symposium but said she would like to improve attendance at the symposium for next year’s event.

“(I) want to open it up to other students on campus,” she said, adding that she would also like to advertise the event better next year.

The other schools do not have as large a PHE program as NU, said PHE Lucy Bangor, an Education sophomore.

“In the future I would like to see a bigger turnout from other schools,” she said.

Weinberg sophomore John Rhyner, a PHE coordinator and health aide, said the symposium has a lot of potential.

“I hope it continues,” he said.

Rhyner said he was glad that people from around the Chicago area were at the symposium. He said he liked that he “could bounce ideas off of them.”

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NU health symposium unites area students