HOW HIP WAS ESSENTIAL DURING THE PANDEMIC
When the pandemic disrupted education in March 2020, just a few days after our annual 2,000+ person HIP Day event at the University of Miami’s Watsco Center, we needed to find a virtual alternative for when school resumed in the fall.
One of the strengths of the HIP program is that it allows students to interact with each other, in-person, face-to-face. Therefore, it was critical for HIP to find a virtual platform that could maintain the intimacy of the classroom, where students still felt safe and comfortable discussing difficult topics.
Luckily, we were introduced to the nationally recognized educational technology platform company, Nearpod, and we were both thrilled to partner together.
Through the Nearpod platform, HIP was able to continue its existing programming, maintaining its 12-year, 100% school retention rate (meaning it has never left a school nor been asked to leave a school). HIP was also able to expand to nearly 1/2 of the public high schools in the Broward County Public Schools and our first charter school. In a year when many non-profits had to scale back, HIP moved forward and grew!
Over 2,300 11th and 12th grade students were trained as HIP peer educators and they taught over 45,000 9th grade students during the 2020–2021 school year!
The new virtual platform made the HIP sessions interactive and engaging and enhanced the in-person sessions as well. HIP connected students to their peers and their schools during a time when students felt very isolated and alone.
As a result of grief, food insecurity, job loss, loneliness and social isolation from the pandemic, students will need more support than ever when they return to school in the fall. We know that HIP will help students acclimate after a year of instability and trauma.
Now, more than ever, HIP is ESSENTIAL for every high school. If you don’t address the stressors and distractions in students’ lives, you cannot focus on their academics. We also know from our research that students overwhelmingly want to talk about their health with their peers — not adults.
Please check out some of our new, short testimonials from our HIP stakeholders. Hear what principals, chief academic officers, school board members, school counselors, A.P. 9th grade teachers and faculty sponsors are saying about HIP: https://behip.org/our-testimonials/.
HIP is currently having expansion conversations with schools and school districts across the country-public schools, independent schools, charter schools, religious schools and boarding schools. HIP is excited to continue to expand for the 2021–2022 school year!
-Risa Berrin, Founder & Executive Director, Health Information Project (HIP)
