A CC PEep -- Sort of. Illustration by Emily Bernstein
Among the students of Connecticut College, one question and one question only burns within their collective souls.
What the heck are CC PEeps?
Although this is a vast exaggeration, it is not entirely without truth. I myself only discovered the group’s existence less than a week ago, when I was charged with writing an article (the one you are reading) about them. Surely this must have been an oversight on my part. In the avalanche of acronyms that make up Connecticut College (CELS, CISLA and CCBES, just to name a few), CC PEeps must have slipped under my radar alone. To prove this theory I randomly selected two Camels, both of them freshmen, and asked them whether or not they knew what CC PEeps was. One of them greeted me with a blank stare, and the other one asked, “Is it some type of candy?”
Despite being unaware of their existence, the two freshmen and I quickly discovered that we had in fact already come into contact with the CC PEeps (whether we knew it or not) at the Camel 101 program during orientation. This program taught us, as well as the rest of the freshman class, some valuable tips for surviving college parties where alcohol is present; for example, think twice about whether or not you really need that fifth or sixth shot. But surely this wasn’t all they had done. So then, what are CC PEeps really?
“CC PEeps are a group of student leaders focused on health promotion on campus,” said CC Curtiss, Conn’s very own Director of Student Wellness and Alcohol/Drug Education. Curtiss has been the advisor and trainer of the group since it was formed in August 2005. “The four major areas we focus on are sleep, stress, mental health and alcohol. We also participate in wellness campaigns for events like the tent dance.”
The CC PEeps, comprised of students from all grades, organize awareness campaigns to help promote a healthy campus lifestyle, and on a campus that lately seems to be trying to break some kind of record for weekly ambulance transports, these programs don’t feel particularly out of place.
Although they certainly promote “positive values,” two words that often gain a collective eye roll from anyone who remembers health class in high school, the students do put quite a bit of effort into integrating this positivity into a “fun format,” both to garner the interest of the student body as well as to avoid that squirming feeling one gets when viewing an after-school special.
It’s not that most students don’t already know the basics of healthy college life (i.e., study hard, get enough sleep, don’t overstress yourself and keep an eye on your blood-alcohol content) so much as they don’t wish to hear it when they are told, often for the umpteenth time in their life, by someone who is at least ten years older than they are. There is an unavoidable difference of age that reduces the effectiveness of communication, and the CC PEeps seek to avoid that reduction due to the fact that they are college students themselves. “The students are given creative control over the programs,” Curtiss said.
Who are the CC PEeps specifically? I discovered one living in my very own building. I asked Allie Faber ’14 about her early opinion of the group. “I just started in the past couple weeks, but I feel it’s a necessary program,” she said. I then asked her about what the CC PEeps had been up to lately.
“This week is Alcohol Awareness week, so there will be some programs in Harris regarding that. We also arranged the recent breast cancer awareness walk.”
Breast cancer awareness? That explains why the other day when I walked into Harris, several girls standing at a table told me to take a pink ribbon “if I liked second base.” With a statement like that, why not take a ribbon? In fact, hardly anyone that walked by refused one.
More importantly, it got my attention. It certainly got my attention a lot faster than a table full of somber expressions and a polite, “please take a ribbon,” would have gotten. Now this isn’t to say that the modus operandi of handling sensitive issues, such as alcohol poisoning or suicide, should always be comedic in nature. But comedy, or at least a kind of ironic silliness, can really make a difficult topic easier to discuss. Think of those “Save the Ta-tas,” wristbands. They’re not the classiest accessories, but they’re probably pulling in quite a bit of cash for the cause against breast cancer.
The point is this: the CC PEeps seem to have a sense of humor, something that seems almost mandatory in a group trained by CC Curtiss (if you haven’t attended one of her presentations, you’re missing out). Thanks to this sense of humor, the feedback from students has been generally positive, at least according to the surveys e-mailed to the freshman regarding their opinion of orientation. If you filled out those forms, then congratulations: your approval is keeping the CC PEeps going. And so far, the going seems pretty good. •
