Written by Hannah Berkeley Cohen, TDN Communications & Media Coordinator. July 11, 2013

It took awhile for the conversation to get from snickering amongst peers to asking questions like, “Can you get HIV if you give a dude a blow job?” at Sheepshead Bay High School, Brooklyn, on Monday, June 24^th, 2013.

…But TDN President and Founder, Ariel Rojas, knows that this transition from embarrassed giggles to open curiosity is only natural in a setting where open dialogue about sex, STD’s, healthy relationships, and self-esteem, is not always available for high school students.

Photos: Hannah Berkeley Cohen. © Copyright 2013 Transdiaspora Network

After a round of intentionally uncomfortable and conventional ice breakers where our dance mediation module was applied, Ariel teams up with counselors and educators from Counseling

in Schools to create a more organic environment, conducive to sharing and asking questions. Peer-to-peer role-playing encourages students to exist outside their preconceived comfort zones, and discussion arises that provokes students to share their personal experiences: “I was once in a gang,” shares one student; “My boyfriend used to pressure me to have sex,” offers another.

What happened throughout the course of one 8-hour day at Sheepshead Bay High School was pretty miraculous; students offer up knowledge that they have learned

at home, in school, and from their own unique life experiences— to their peers and administrators with whom they had never shared a word previously.

Transdiaspora Network’s non-judgmental forum and non-lecturing style for teens and educators fill a void that is missing in the public school system; by deeming space and time “safe zones” where all participants feel that their voice and stories are both valid and confidential, students feel themselves opening up to legitimate dialogue about real life and real situations.