Think before you party

The UTRGV Superhero Project will offer Spring Break safety tips to the campus community during its “Party Safe! Party Smart!” and “Consent Day” events this week.

“Party Safe! Party Smart!” will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today on the Student Union lawn on the Brownsville campus. On the Edinburg campus, “Consent Day” will run at the same time Tuesday in the Student Union.

The Superhero Project, a program under the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, is a universitywide initiative to promote the idea that students have the power to prevent high-risk behavior and harm, according to the UTRGV website.

Alberto Escamilla, a peer educator at the Superhero Project in Brownsville, said the purpose of the events and activities is to inform students about staying safe and alert during the weeklong vacation that starts March 13.

“We want to give [students] tips on proper ways to be drinking or to be partying,” Escamilla said.

The “Party Safe! Party Smart!” event will provide UTRGV organizations and departments an opportunity to promote themselves to the campus community.

“We want to give the opportunity for organizations and departments to help us out and for them to give valuable information about what their department is about or what the organization is about as well,” he said.

Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the event.

Escamilla provided The Rider with several tips on how to party safe during Spring Break.

“If you are going to be consuming alcohol, make sure you have a designated driver to take you to a place or you could look for another type of transportation, like a taxi,” he said.

If someone you don’t know offers you a drink, don’t accept it.

“You never know what that drink is being tampered with,” Escamilla said.

Prizes and snacks will be offered at today’s event, Escamilla said.

Cassandra Zamora, a peer educator for the Superhero Project in Edinburg, will be at “Consent Day” Tuesday.

“We want to bring awareness to consent, which means the ability to say ‘yes’ or to say ‘no’ with having sexual encounters,” Zamora said. “Let’s say you are passed out and you are drunk: You can’t give consent to have sex with someone.”

Zamora said the Superhero Project will give out information and tips on how to have a safe Spring Break.

On Wednesday, the Superhero Project and UTRGV Student Health Services will give out free condoms from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Edinburg campus.

“We are going to be working with Student Health [Services] and we are going to have a condom cart and we are going to be driving around campus,” Zamora said. “We are going to be passing out condoms and [goody bags] and information on resources that we have here on campus.”

In Brownsville, the Superhero Project will give out free condoms from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday throughout campus.

Escamilla said the Superhero Project is an organization in charge of bringing awareness to the community about the different resources on campus.

“We always bring awareness every month,” he said. “For March … we want to focus on bringing awareness about how to party safe and party smart. Our organization is about that, bringing awareness to the community about resources on campus and give [students] tips about a certain issue that we want to emphasize.”

For more information about the events, call 665-7244 or email srr@utrgv.edu.