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The Berkeley High School AIDS memorial quilts already have nearly two hundred squares.  

The project began last spring. 

The six BHS quilts hang in the Berkeley Community Theater this week along with three large sections of the world renown AIDS Memorial Quilt. The BHS quilts were put together by Teens Advocating Safer Sex, an HIV peer health education group at the high school. The quilt was the idea of one of the members of TASS whose life was touched by HIV and AIDS.  

Chayla Summers, one of the members of TASS, said the group visited classrooms and did two-day presentations.  

At the end of the presentations, each student in the classes was asked to make a square for the quilt. Students were also allowed to invite friends from outside the class to contribute squares.  

Many of the squares made by students involve safe sex and the use of condoms.  

One square says, “Before you connect, you must protect.” Another says, “It doesn’t care who you are. Don’t think it will spare you.” 

TASS does not condemn teenage sex, instead it tries to tell students that if they choose to have sex, they also need to choose to be safe, Sommers said.  

In addition to the quilt project, TASS does outreach, which includes passing out condoms on campus. 

Sonya Dublin, who has served as coordinator for HIV prevention services at Berkeley High for the past three years, said the quilt project is an opportunity for students to express their feelings about HIV and AIDS.  

Dublin said she believes the quilt helps break down stereotypes and stigmas that surround the disease. 

As coordinator for HIV prevention, Dublin oversees HIV testing on campus.  

Berkeley High began its testing program in 1996.  

Dublin cited Centers for Disease Control statistics, which indicate that 50 percent of all new infections in the United States are in people under the age of 25.  

She feels that because TASS does work such as the quilt, students are more educated and are more likely to seek out HIV-related services.  

She said she’s hopeful that all the students will get to see the quilts.  

This is the second time sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt has visited Berkeley High School. The project was started in San Francisco in 1986. 

The quilts will be on display at the Berkeley Community Theater on the Berkeley High School campus until Friday.