I went to school Monday expecting to hear everyone talking about worlds AIDS week. We had Drug Awareness week a few months ago and I had assumed that we would be discussing AIDS week just like we had all the other issues. I started asking people about it and they had no idea that it even existed. I was shocked. The few people that did know found out only because the google logo had changed and their knowledge on AIDS awareness stopped there. My aunt died of AIDS several years ago so I had known about the horrible impact of AIDS for a while. It was sad to see so many people that had no idea that so many people died from it each year. Georgia is in the top ten states reporting the highest number of AIDS rates. In 2006 alone, there were 1,605 reported cases.

After I explained exactly what AIDS awareness week was all about, I answered questions about it, provided links to Amplify and informed people where to get tested. Dalton State College, a college about 20 minutes away from my high school handed out condoms and even offered free AID's testing. A lot of my friends got tested and I was happy to see such a good turn out. As more and more people become aware of how to protect themselves against AIDS, the AIDS rate will go down and lives will be saved.