As the current school year is coming to an end the Peer Health Educators (PHE) at California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State), are accepting applications for aspiring Health Educators for the upcoming year.

PHE is a part of the Health Education and Promotion (HEP) Office at the Stan State Student Health Center, and their purpose is to educate other students about a variety of health topics including sexual health, nutrition, and much more.

Current PHE Taylor Whitehead believes the position comes with many benefits that students should take advantage of.

“[benefits include] valuable experience for future employment and academic endeavors, enhanced communication, decision-making and leadership skills, improved presentation, teaching and facilitation skills, and extensive knowledge of health promotion, disease prevention and college health issues,” Whitehead said.

James Nelson (senior, Kinesiology) joined PHE to help his fellow Stan State warriors.

“I joined PHE for the chance to expand my experience in the health promotion field and get more involved with my campus while improving my public speaking and leadership skills,” Nelson said. “PHE gave me the opportunity to help my campus community in a unique way”.

However, such as any program there is a workload and a level of commitment students need to prosper as PHE.

“[PHE] are expected to commit to one academic school year, and volunteer about five to seven hours per week to plan and implement health promotion activities on campus and in their community,” Whitehead said. ”Weekly team meetings are held throughout the school year.”

Gabriella Valles (freshman, Biology) thinks that health education should be a subject that students should be more aware and informed about.

“It is important to know what is going on with themselves, and to know what to when you need help,” Valles said.

Students who are interested in more information about the organization or want to join can fill out an application online and email it to the Health Education Coordinator Megan Rowe’s email at [email protected] by Friday, April 14.