The day’s lesson was all about birth control.
Athena Kern, a health education specialist with REACH CNY, had just told the room of 13 seventh-graders about every type available — the pill, the patch, the implant, the IUD, the shot, the ring, the external condom, the internal condom, and abstinence. But the best way to protect themselves, if they were going to have sex, was to use “the buddy system,” choosing two methods at the same time between both partners to prevent unwanted pregnancy and potential sexually transmitted infections or diseases.