On Feb. 25, Joliet Junior College held a Healthy Relationships, Boundaries, and Friendships event on the H-Bridge. The event was in the form of a gameshow where two friends would be asked what the other would do in a situation regarding their well being. Both the Office of Student Activities and Guardian Angel Community Services organized this event.
Before the event, the Students Rights and Responsibilities decided to partner with Guardian Angel to provide more services for students at JJC. Johanna Vargas represented Guardian Angel, a Joliet-based non-profit that services for people who have suffered from domestic or sexual violence.
“The Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities saw the opportunity to join the Office of Student Activities,” Vargas said, “They just wanted to be able to provide more support to the students in respect of sexual abuse or domestic violence. “We’re raising awareness on teen dating violence as February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.”
Amy Martin, representative from the Office of Student Activities, was also present that the event monitoring the game that the students could take part in. The game was a good way to make students more aware of the different situations they or a loved one could be in.
“We’re looking from a healthy relationship standpoint,” Martin said. “The team that wins gets a lunch voucher for the cafeteria. It gives them some of those healthy boundary questions to ask and how they can assert their boundaries.”
Two friends who took part in the game, Yisela Walker and Courtney Jordan, both came to the event to have a fun time.
“I thought it was fun, we should do it more often,” Walker said.
Between 3 and 10 people were present during different parts of the event.
“It was fun, just needs more people,” Jordan said. “I think it would be more social and it would feel more like an event.”
Before becoming a group that supports those who have gone through events such as domestic violence, Guardian Angel had been providing for the community through a different form of support.
“Guardian Angel has been around for over 100 years and it initially was an orphanage, therefore it has always been an organization that provides services to the community,” Vargas said. “I volunteered for a year and a half with the sexual assault service center, which drove me to pursue a career with Guardian Angel,” Vargas said.
She had always desired to be in the field of social services, that desire is what lead her to join the support group.
