This February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and me, along with everybody else at A Woman’s Place, whether it be staff members or fellow volunteers, consider this special month a time to raise awareness in our community and, more importantly, to be aware ourselves. Awareness is something that everyone has within them, but not…
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What it Means to be Aware
The Importance of Educating Teens
February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, which calls for action in educating teens and adolescents on what healthy relationships are, as well as how to recognize and react to unhealthy relationships. According to a 2011 CDC nationwide survey, it was found that 23% of females and 14% of males who experienced rape, physical…
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Be Mine
It snows often in Happy Valley. Rarely enough to amount to anything, but just enough to look pretty (and, sometimes, be annoying). My sophomore year at Penn State, however, St. Valentine gave us work-weary students a blessed gift: the one and only snow day I can remember during my four years of undergrad. Yes, classes…
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Healthy vs. Unhealthy
Social media can be a very harmful place when it comes to controversial videos. One video in particular shows an 18 year-old girl, Romina Garcia, saying, ”If your boyfriend hits you or beats you up, stay with him. He loves you, because he’s risking for you to press charges on him, calling the police —…
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Free Being Me
A wall of teal green vests and colorful badges stands firm in the center of the room. It is formed by a group of girl scouts who are linked arm and arm. Moments ago, these girls were complete strangers. Within minutes they have become a unified bunch, discovering that in some way they are ALL connected….
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Pinwheels
I remember my childlike amusement with this neon green pinwheel that my mom bought for me one summer. Opening up my window, I would watch it spin through endless flickering revolutions. I called it my wind meter, a tool I used to watch the breeze. My brilliant, six-year-old-self thought I had discovered how to see…
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My Decision
It all started with my decision not to join the military. I wanted to serve people but do so in other ways. In a random google search, I typed in “suicide hotline volunteer.” An online application eventually led to an interview. Soon after, I began training as a crisis/suicide hotline volunteer. My training covered a…
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