{"id":9260,"date":"2018-10-26T18:11:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T18:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=9260"},"modified":"2018-10-26T18:11:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T18:11:46","slug":"utrgv-superhero-project-reveals-superpowers-wins-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=9260","title":{"rendered":"UTRGV Superhero Project Reveals Superpowers, Wins National Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>A University of Texas Rio Grande Valley project aimed at creating a safer campus has been given a national recognition from the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association\u2019s Best Practices\/Institutional Impact Award.<\/p>\n

The association, which has more than 2,800 active members, gave the award to The UTRGV Superhero Project, an active bystander program designed to encourage students to look out for one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to educate students on how to intervene in problematic situations,\u201d said Ceilhy Garcia, a Superhero Project peer leader and UTRGV biomedical science major from McAllen.<\/p>\n

Those situations can include preventing sexual assault, addressing someone smoking on the tobacco-free campuses, discouraging plagiarism, and helping someone recover from a bad breakup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe teach our students that they can intervene, like go up to a certain person and say things directly,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cBut if they don\u2019t have the confidence to do those things, they can report it to the resources that we\u2019re providing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is usually best to not ignore \u201clittle hints\u201d pointing to a problem situation, she said, \u201cbecause all those little hints might be them trying to call for help.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The UTRGV Superhero Project, aimed at creating a safer campus, has been given the Best Practices\/Institutional Impact Award from the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association. The project is an active bystander program designed to encourage students to look out for one another. To help spread the word, peer leaders \u2013 like Ceilhy Garcia and Mario Flores, shown here \u2013 make presentations to groups, host events, partner with other UTRGV departments and participate in events hosted by other organizations. Photo: David Pike\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

BECOMING AN ACTIVE BYSTANDER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Douglas Stoves, UTRGV associate dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities, oversees the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole reason for choosing \u2018The Superhero Project\u2019 was because superheroes just don\u2019t wait. They act,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all recognize when something\u2019s a problem, but it\u2019s doing more than just recognizing it\u2019s a problem. It\u2019s actually taking some action that\u2019s going to benefit our campus community and benefit the individual, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

INCREASING AWARENESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

To help spread the word about the UTRGV Superhero Program, peer leaders make multiple presentations for groups, host events, partner with other UTRGV departments and participate in events hosted by other organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to come up with a concept. It\u2019s another thing to see it carried out with such vigor,\u201d Stoves said. \u201cOne of the things I\u2019m very proud of is that the peer leaders are always looking for how the program can evolve. What\u2019s our next presentation? What\u2019s the next thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stoves said that sort of dedication is what led to the national award.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as proud as can be about that,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the peer leaders to be recognized for their hard work and all their efforts, it\u2019s just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

LEADING THE WAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stoves and the Superhero Project peer leaders will accept the award in November at the\u00a0Annual NaBITA Conference and Campus Threat Management Institute<\/a>\u00a0in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for us to really push UTRGV out as a leader in this area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He and the peer leaders also will be speaking about the Superhero Project during sessions at the conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to put the students right out front, and they can talk about all the ways in which they\u2019re talking to their fellow students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peer leader Garcia said she is proud of the entire Superhero team, and excited because the recognition is a chance to reach more students with information about the Superhero Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never enough that we can do to tell them there are resources here to help them out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the UTRGV Superhero Project and its upcoming events, visit the program\u2019s website (https:\/\/www.utrgv.edu\/srr\/superhero-project\/index.htm<\/a>) or like its Facebook page (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UTRGVSuperheroProject\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013\u00a0A University of Texas Rio Grande Valley project aimed at creating a safer campus has been given a national recognition from the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association\u2019s Best Practices\/Institutional Impact Award. The association, which has more than 2,800 active members, gave the award to The UTRGV Superhero […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9262,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9260\/revisions\/9262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}