For those of you who don’t know what the Safer Sex Express is, it’s a service provided through the Office of Health Promotion(OHP) here at Syracuse University. Through this service, you can discretely order sexual health supplies like various types of condoms, lubricants, oral dams, gloves, and finger cots for only a small price of FREE. Yes! These products are FREE to SU students! Students order the supplies they want at students.syr.edu/sse. If you live on campus, it is delivered right to you. If you live off campus, you can anonymously pick up your package at OHP. Now my job as a Safer Sex Express Brand Ambassador (SSEBA) is to rep the brand around campus and promote it to my peers! Being a Safer Sex Express Brand Ambassador has been an amazing experience, and I’m here to share with you my six reasons why!
1. Getting Free Swag
The Office of Health Promotion loves decking out their ambassadors in free swag. From baseball caps, to beanies, to tee shirts, to fanny packs, they really give you the hook up. I mean, come on, fanny packs. It doesn’t get much better than that.
2. Participating in Fun Events
Being a SSEBA, I’ve gotten to do some really cool things! I’ve handed out adorable condom necklaces to students at men’s football and basketball games, which is really fun because I get to interact with the student body. I love seeing their reactions when I hand them a condom necklace! Also, there are other great events that SSEBAs get involved in around campus such as tabling events, cool panel discussions – like “Sex in the Dark” where we partnered with Bedsider – and doing fun events for Frisky February like our packing party!
3. Promoting a Great Organization
Unfortunately, not all of the students on campus are aware of the Safer Sex Express program, which is a shame, because what is better than free condoms? I love the fact that being a brand ambassador allows me to make the campus more aware of this great resource. Often times when I promote SSE on social media or wear the apparel, at least one person will tell me that they didn’t know about the program, and that they’re really excited to learn about it and try it out. It makes me really happy that I can be a link between the program and the student body!
4. Learning Ample Information about Sexual Health
Through my training to be a SSEBA, I learned so much information about sexual health. I’ve never really had a formal sexual health lesson until I became a SSEBA. My training cleared up any sexual health questions I had and steered me away from common misconceptions. For example, did you know internal condoms (a.k.a. female condoms) are latex-free and actually made from polyisoprene which conforms to the body? Talk about a perfect fit! I’ve learned so much from my SSEBA experience, and I can now pass my knowledge along to the student body!
5. Getting Involved on Campus while Meeting New People
Being a SSEBA has been a great way to get myself involved on campus. It has opened the door to me attending those fun events I mentioned before, and it has introduced me to some really great people! I’ve made friends with all of the other SSEBAs who are all really sweet people I enjoy working with. I’ve also had the opportunity to get acquainted with all of the awesome people down in OHP. Being the social butterfly I am, I love meeting new people, and SSEBA has been a great outlet for that!
6. Being a Resource for Others
Because I’m so open about being a SSEBA with showing off my apparel and posting on social media, people know that I’m an ambassador and that they can approach me with any questions they have about sexual health. I was not expecting to be contacted as frequently as I am regarding sexual health questions! Luckily, I’ve had excellent training that allows me to answer those questions, such as the best type of lubrication for certain situations. I love that I can be a resource for my peers to ask important questions regarding sexual health, so they can get the answers they need!
Overall, being a Safer Sex Express Brand Ambassador has been great, and I can’t wait to continue it! If you’re interested in becoming a Safer Sex Express Brand Ambassador, apply!
Written by Nori Zaccheo ‘20, College of Arts & Sciences