Philipsburg:--- In an effort to increase awareness on HIV/AIDS, STIs, as well as healthy lifestyle choices, the HIV/AIDS Programme Management Team (PMT) in collaboration with the Department of Communication (DCOMM) and Collective Prevention Services (CPS) have began to develop a monthly TV Show. This TV Show will be aired on St. Maarten Cable TV, www.sintmaartengov.org, YouTube, and Facebook later on this year. This initiative aims at engaging, educating, and encouraging participation of the youth in the development and execution of youth friendly HIV, STI, and general health awareness
In order to develop the format and content for the TV Show, a Think Tank session was held on Thursday, May 17th at the University of St. Maarten with students between the ages of 16-20 from various secondary schools on the Dutch Side. At this event the students acted as the experts and gave their ideas on what kind of show would be entertaining for them and their peers to watch. They engaged in a discussion on what shows are popular amongst teenagers now; what information do they think their peers need to know about HIV, STI and healthy lifestyle choices such as getting tested for HIV, relationships, sexting, abortions, depression, and dieting among many others; who would be a good host and why; and most important what format would be most appealing (game show, reality series, investigative reporting, etc).
"The students were extremely creative and produced very interesting ideas that will definitely be used to guide the development of the TV Show. They are eager to continue contributing to making this exciting opportunity for St. Maarten a success and we will continue to work closely with these dynamic group of students as well as others who are interested. Based on the information we gathered there will be another think tank session, and then we will begin developing and executing the episodes," says Alissa Rios, Communication Officer for the PMT.
Minister Cornelius de Weever, the PMT, DCOMM, and CPS would like to give a special thank you to all the students that were involved - Natalie Richardson & Alexander Watkins (Sundial School); Naomie Mazzola & Gila Parisot (Caribbean International Academy); Sahar Thomson & Heavenest St.Cyr (St. Dominica High); Shanikwa Jno-Baptiste (MPC); Riddhi Samtani & Isaiah Haakmat (Learning Unlimited); Jeffeny Fidel & Rholdyne Lake (St. Maarten Academy), the coordinators/teachers from the various schools, the facilitators who helped guide the discussion (Jorge Solano, Peter Arndell, Shameda Delaney, and Rodney Richardson), and the University of St. Maarten. Stay Tuned, New TV Show in the making!