Planned Parenthood

As a part of my internship through UMD Health Services, I was given the opportunity to complete some of my hours at Planned Parenthood since sexual health is my passion. Through Planned Parenthood my main projects were the Teen Resource Center, Educating, and The Teen Council. Interning through Planned Parenthood has taught me about so many great local resources for the underprivileged and at risk community and has furthered my knowledge extensively.

Teen Resource Center
The Teen Resource (TRC) Center of Duluth is a place where Teens (or anyone looking for resources) can go and get educational material on safer sex practices. It is also the home of the education department of Duluth's Planned Parenthood. Through the TRC, we hold events that try to encourage teens to come in and make use of the area. Some of the events that I helped create were Environmental Toxins night, Movie nights, Get Yourself Tested night, and National Teen Pregnancy Month events. I staffed the Teen Resource Center every Wednesday from 2:00-6:00 which is when the TRC was "open". This was a time that anyone could come in and get resources or help with sexual health topics. This was also a time when Teen Council members could come and get extra help with educational materials, or just come in to hang out.

Educational Components
Another part of my interning at Planned Parenthood was the educational component. I was given the opportunity to teach for the TRC multiple times throughout the semester. I taught a week long course to Middle Schoolers on Sexuality and Body Image, I created educational classes for young girls who are in the Girl Power program here in Duluth, I created a class for students going to receive their CNA license in Esko, and taught throughout local high schools on different safer sex practices such as birth control, STI's, abstinence, etc... Getting to teach in all of these different settings was great for me, as before this I had only ever taught at a college aged level. I now feel so much more confident being able to walk into any aged classroom and teaching them what the need to know at the appropriate levels.

Teen Council
The last main part of my interning at Planned Parenthood was working with the Teen Council. The Teen Council is a group of 10 high schoolers' who come together and do advocacy and educational components for Planned Parenthood. They go through extensive training, go to workshops and retreats, help us teach in the local schools and organizations, and do a lot of activities for the TRC. I got to help out with a lot of the Teen Council meetings on Monday nights. In addition to the meetings, I helped out with Youth Lobby Day in the Twin Cities, took students to a grant workshop in Virginia, MN, and helped out with Take Back the Night. Getting to know the teens was an amazing experience for me, and has furthered my thinking that I want to work with teens in the future.