Though filled with laughter at several points throughout the day, on Feb. 6, the Aragon High School large gym was the setting of a very serious discussion: safe sex. Hosted by Kaiser Permanente, the biannual production of Secrets was performed at Aragon.
Secrets, an award winning HIV/AIDS and STI prevention production, is viewed by Aragon students during either their junior or senior year. The educational theater program follows the lives of several teenage students, each of whom have secrets. One such student eventually comes to discover that he has contracted HIV/AIDS, and he and his friends come together to cope with such discovery.
The goal of the play is to educate teenage students about HIV/ AIDS prevention and safe sex practices. One of the performers for Secrets, Huan Dong says “Not everyone is choosing to be sexually active in high school. However, if a student does choose to be sexually active, they should know all the information so that they can make the healthy decisions for their own lives. We’re not here to tell a person to be abstinent or have sex; we’re giving a lot of information so that they can make the best choice for themselves.”
Though comedic in nature, many students felt that the performance was very effective. “Some people don’t want to admit it but they did learn a lot from [the program],” says Senior Elena Roldan.
Despite many popular culture references to songs like “My Beat Bang,” the program continued to return to the theme of preventative care. “There was chaos, but when it got serious, you could hear a pin drop in there. People were listening,” recalls English teacher Vince Bravo.
Certainly, the production had touched many Aragon students. Senior Ivette Angel-Gonzales says “It’s really important because some students’ parents don’t talk to [their sons and daughters] about the risks. I think that [students] will take it more serious after watching this because they have everything laid out on the table. A lot of people realize their actions can come back to them.”
One of the performers of Secrets, Joiandrea Robinson, talked about her own time seeing secrets. “I saw Secrets in 2006. I was a senior. It just really impacted me; it gave me a lot of information that I didn’t know. I think I was more like Denise – the girl that had all the wrong information. But through the play I found out that a lot of things that I thought were truths were actually myths, and it let me be safe for the way I’m going,” she said.
One of the reasons students see Secrets during their junior and senior year is because the show is targeted to a more sexually active populace. Also, freshmen learn about safe sex practices in Health class.
Some think that Secrets is more impactful than health class though. “You can read about [safe sex practices] in the textbook, but I don’t think it has the same impact [as Secrets],” says English teacher Robert Thurtle.
Moreover, Secrets put a textbook lesson into a high school perspective. “You don’t really realize how STDs and STIs are in our society. But after seeing [Secrets] you realize how easy it is to get them,” says junior Tyler Bray.
Still, some students think Secrets should be shown to all students. “Freshmen and sophomores should be shown this as well. Sexual things start in middle school. People need to be informed,” says senior Karol Ruiz.
The program is shown specifically to juniors and seniors biannually to ensure that each student sees the production at least once. It will return to Aragon in 2014.
Additional reporting from: Sabrina Imbler, Victoria Yan and Sangwon Yun.
