Tip Tuesday - Be Ready for Fall Health Programming

August and September may feel like they are far in the future, but the new academic year always arrives quickly. Get a jump on your health promotion efforts now.

First, think about the topic and the most effective form of delivery. The methods for conducting prevention efforts vary depending on your goals. In some cases, tabling (and engaging with people who come by!) can be useful. Social media campaigns, small group presentations, social activities, or visual awareness campaigns each can have their place in your menu of prevention efforts. Think through the objectives of each activity and develop a method for evaluating if you accomplished what you had hoped.

If you are working with orientation programs, hopefully you have already started that planning. Many peer educators participate in orientation, providing programs on alcohol, sexual health, general safety, and sexual violence. Think about engaging programs that will stand out from the long list of information incoming students are given. Try to incorporate Peer Theater, videos, or experiential learning that will help students adapt health-protective behaviors early on.

Need easy, engaging programming quick? Try one of our Jeopardy games. New Sex Jeopardy and Tobacco Jeopardy are a great way to get students talking about health issues.

Other programming ideas:

• Get involved with Welcome Week, particularly to let people know about your peer education group. If you need resources for a table, try one of our ready-to-go kits.
• Partner with Fraternity and Sorority Life to help construct health-related programming for Rush and house orientations.
• Work with the dining halls to provide nutritional information and/or meal planning for students.
• Create a “steps map” of campus to help new students think about how to get in their 10,000 steps each day.
• Organize healthy social activities to engage new people meet others and build connections. Try group events like yoga, walks around campus or the neighborhood, dinners, or inexpensive outings to a museum or sporting event.
• If you have a relatively new tobacco-free policy, develop teams to go out onto campus, hand out swag, and educate everyone about the policy.
• Create stress-relief programming for midterms and/or finals.
• National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week is the third full week in October. Think about partnerships and cross-promotion opportunities now. Updated alcohol pamphlets are available here and here to aid your programming.

We also encourage all peer educators and other student leaders to complete the NASPA CPE (Certified Peer Educator) training. The 12-hour training helps students develop leadership skills to be able to successfully create and implement campus programs. The newest edition of CPE rolls out in July.

Are there other great programs you’ve done on campus? Share them with us! Also, consider presenting on them at General Assembly. The call-for-programs is now open here.

Nothing seems to go quicker than summer break, so invest some time and resources now into preparation for fall. Your planning and forethought will pay off.