UW-Eau Claire hosts many events for students to participate in, but one that sticks out to students who live on campus is condom bingo. On Feb. 6 in Karlgaard Tower’s lobby, the Student Wellness Advocacy Team (SWAT) hosted this semester’s condom bingo event.

At the event, students are given a bingo card that has various terms such as STIs, contraception and sex-related topics. The announcer says definitions that match the terms on the cards. 

Students can then guess what the matching term is, and if they have it, place a condom on their board.

When a person gets bingo they often get a freebie bag that includes items from the SWAT’s office.

Kira Haus, a peer health educator for SWAT, said the main purpose of condom bingo is to make sex education more engaging for students while also teaching them about things they may not have learned in high school.

“It is a way to make sex education more engaging for people,” Haus said. “I know especially for me in high school, we had one day on it, and it was abstinence training. Any way you can make education more enjoyable where you also learn is a good thing.”

Kabbaong Xiong, a peer health educator for SWAT, said condom bingo helps promote health education on campus while ensuring everyone remains safe and healthy.

Rachel Leopold, a graduate assistant in the Office of Health Promotion, said that condom bingo was designed to teach students from different backgrounds and identities about sex education.

“We read off a disclosure statement at the beginning of the program that says ‘We do this because some people might come from major cities where they know a little of everything,’” Leopold said. “‘In the rural midwest, only abstinence and some little things about birth control.’”

Haus said her favorite part of condom bingo is when SWAT partners with Planned Parenthood.

“When we get to partner with Planned Parenthood, they get to donate and provide cool and different prizes to people instead of the freebies we give out,” Haus said. “That makes it more engaging and most of the time it is just super busy and chaotic, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

Xiong said that despite it only being her second bingo she’s helped with, she enjoys seeing people’s excitement for the event.

“Just seeing people excited about learning, or seeing them anticipating winning something to engage them into something that’s not talked about enough,” Xiong said.

Haus said that with SWAT, their doors are always open and available for people if they have questions. Haus said that they are understanding, as they have all been through college themselves, making it easier to come to them to ask questions or get help.

Xiong said students should make sure to take care of themselves, despite what activities they may have going on.

“Make your health a priority,” Xiong said. “There will come a day when you will regret not taking care of yourself. I think as college students we get so busy and preoccupied with different things. At the end of the day, we still have to show up for ourselves.”

Leopold said that UW-Eau Claire’s Student Health Services are great for college students and readily accessible.

“We technically house under Student Health Services,” Leopold said. “We have a great group and program. We are right on campus, unlike many other universities. It is super awesome that it is available on-campus and affordable to college students.”

Boggess can be reached at [email protected].