According to senior Cailey Hansen-Mahoney, the first Sexual Health Education Club meeting went well overall.

“(The) turnout could have been a little better, but it’s a really busy time of the year and it was our first meeting,” Hansen-Mahoney said.

According to Sexual Health Education Club (SHEC) adviser Allison Luskey, the meeting Nov. 8 focused on future events.

“We brainstormed a lot of topics to discuss and just areas of interest,” Luskey said. “The topics ranged from access to contraception, to looking at different laws, to discussing gender identity and sexuality.”

Senior Danny Hunegs said he enjoyed being able to include his voice in the club’s agenda.

“I felt the meeting went well,” Hunegs said. “We got a long list of topics and I’m excited for the future meetings because I was intrigued by the topics that people came up with.”

Luskey said she is behind whatever the students want to do in the club.

“Any ideas that the students have, I am on board with,” Luskey said. “I was super impressed with the range of topics that came up.”

According to Hansen-Mahoney, she hopes to develop a greater understanding about the ideas SHEC focuses on.

“My goals specific to SHEC going forward, are developing my knowledge about healthy relationships and healthy sexuality and sharing my knowledge about that with others,” Hansen-Mahoney said.

Hansen-Mahoney said SHEC provides Park students with knowledge they otherwise may not have found.

“SHEC is really important because for students to have free and unobstructed access to correct information and medically accurate information about sexual health,” Hansen-Mahoney said. “There was a lot of difficulty getting the club started, but I think it’s super important for students to have their own place to access resources and discuss healthy sexuality.”

According to Luskey, she wants to keep the club student-motivated so they can discuss whatever they want.

“I think that is vital to the essence of the club,” Luskey said. “I want to keep the organic piece of (SHEC), that students can just bring up topics and then discuss them.”

Hunegs said he believes that SHEC provides additional essential education that otherwise may not have been found.

“The health (classes) we have here, in my opinion, (are not) enough, so it’s good to have more learning opportunities about sexual health because that is an important topic to high school (students),” Hunegs said.

According to Hunegs, he hopes to get a better understand of sexual health through attending SHEC meetings.

“My goals are to learn more about different certain aspects about sexuality and just health in general,” Hunegs said. “I’d love to learn more.”

Luskey said she believes SHEC is valuable to Park because it allows students to continue to learn about topic important to them.

“It is really important to have a SHEC club because it is completely student-led. I am there and I am present, but I have no say in what gets discussed,” Luskey said. “Students have the opportunity to talk and discuss about important topics relevant to sexual health. I’m just here to support them.”