Boyle

When it comes to safe sex, Jessica Boyle, sophomore environmental biology major, takes it seriously.

“I just want everyone here at Emporia State to know there are options available to them, no one has to have unprotected sex,” Boyle said.

Boyle is a member of the Great American Condom Campaign, a national movement aimed at promoting awareness about safe sex on university campuses.

As a way to promote this campaign, Boyle, her boyfriend, Garrett Nekuda, junior chemistry and physics education major, and others give out condoms to students at student events on campus, and also by way of her dorm room door in Southeast Morse Hall.

At the recent Zoiks! improv comedy event in the Fredrickson Theater in Roosevelt Hall, Boyle offered 1,000 free condoms to students who attended the event.

“The Zoiks performance was really cool. We showed up with 1,000 condoms and left with about 350, so it went pretty well,” she said. “I think it kind of got the word out about safe sex and the benefits of practicing it.”

According to Boyle, there are around 1,000 advisers for the Great American Condom Campaign, residing in all 50 states. These “safe side advisers,” as they are called, promote safe sex on their campuses and in their own communities in much of the same way Boyle does.

Boyle initially found out about the campaign from a link she found on her Facebook page. The link took her to amplifyourvoice.org. The site features campaigns for many different issues currently prominent in the U.S. and elsewhere. The “issues” tab on the site contains links for campaigns ranging from abstinence programs to body image, from human trafficking to social justice and human rights.

Boyle advocated going to amplifyyourvoice.org if students are interested in finding out more about an issue, or are interested in getting involved.

“There are a ton of different causes: safe sex, gay marriage, you name it,” she said. “It is a good source for those who are interested but don’t know where to start.”

Nekuda expressed why Boyle is so passionate about the Great American Condom Campaign.

“Because it’s important,” he said. “Safety is important to me, and safe sex is important to her. It should be important to everyone. It’s a good thing.”

Boyle, a Salina native and graduate of Salina Central High School, is also passionate about environmental science, and specifically marine biology, a field she plans to study more exclusively after graduation.

“I’d like to move to the coast, any coast really, but probably California, and continue my education by getting a master’s in marine biology. I just love the ocean,” Boyle said. “To quote a movie we watched in class, our knowledge of the ocean is a raindrop on the surface.”

Boyle said that the marine biology class in the Science Department has been her favorite class she has taken at ESU, and was what initially sparked her interest in the field.

“We studied all of the parts of the field, and I just loved everything about it,” she said. “There isn’t one part I particularly like more than others. I just like the mystery of it, and how little we know about it.”

Send article as PDF to