Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl and girl likes boy. The simple relationship begins to change as their knowledge of sex begins to increase. Boy’s hormones begin to strengthen as well as the girl’s. They become curious, but decide they want to make it special. The girl finds the right time when no one is home for a couple of hours, surprises the boy with candles and tries to look prettier than she ever has for him. The boy smiles and becomes excited, he tells her all the things she wants to hear. “I love you, don’t worry, I’ll be here forever,” he says.

Some people are used to hearing about sex in media; meanwhile, students in Mrs. Marks’ class are not only learning about sex education but they are incorporating it into their publications class as well. Mrs. Marks and her 7th period sophomore publications class are learning about sex while using media to raise awareness of different topics.

    “We started this project on October 13th after reading an article in the New York Times about how sex education is mandatory in NYC High Schools. But, around this same time I was supposed to start teaching them Mixed Media. The first semester was supposed to be Health and the rest is supposed to be Mixed Media and I thought that I could still incorporate Mixed Media but also teach them about this subject that they need to be learning about,” says Mrs. Marks.
Students are getting creative with this assignment. Some aren’t just simply stating facts, they are creating informative power points and mini-episodes to inform their audiences about teen pregnancy and how the media teaches students about sex.
“My group and I are doing a power point in which we talk about the risk of the baby since it is being carried by a teenage mother,” says Leslie Granados, sophomore.

But there’s a catch, they want to do more than just teach others in their class; Mrs. Marks wants to set up a 10th grade town hall or even a high school town hall and present their projects to the rest of the students in the school.

    “I think it would be a good idea to have a town hall where these students can raise
awareness to other students as well.” says Mrs. Marks.
Students from Mrs. Marks class discussed the importance of being alert when it comes to learning about sex so that they won’t end up as a pregnant teen. They talk about how media affects sex education: for they teach them to have sex with anyone, someone they don’t even love or trust or just met. Song lyrics as well, influence students by showing them mixed views of sex like in the song, “S.E.X.” by Lyfe Jennings.
“Doing this project raises our awareness and teaches us the dangers on stuff that we might not know about,” says Marla Riera.
Learning about sex in schools teaches students that having sex is not like the picture perfect moment mentioned above. Students need to know about the repercussions that one mistake could lead to.

Sidebar:
“You say that your not ready for sex but you’re in love
He says if you really loved him, you would give it up
Momma says that’s just a line guys use to get you’re stuff
Which one will you trust?” -S.E.X. by Lyfe Jennings