As a senior at Piedmont High School, I was faced with the decision of what college to go to. When my 3D Art teacher suggested East Carolina University, I immediately was repulsed and I shuddered from thoughts of their high STD rate. Ultimately, my choices were narrowed down to Appalachian State University and UNCW; I chose the latter. Looking back, I see that my readiness to dismiss ECU as a college choice was na’ve and based on, for the most part, rumors.

Instead of narrowing down one university to point a finger at for the high STD rates, I began looking at young adults as a whole. According to the American Social Health Association, “Each year, one in four teens contracts an STD,” and “one in two sexually active persons will contract an STD by age 25.” These statistics do not quarantine a specific university, but instead point out the entire young adult population.

Being a part of that age group is shameful. I witness a multitude of young adults intoxicated in the streets of downtown Wilmington every weekend. Jokingly, my friends and I play a game called “Guess who’s going home together,” as we sit on our barstools finishing our beers. We find it humorous to mock the teens that make rash decisions to have sex based more on their blood alcohol level than their sensibility. Although we have our laughs about it, it is still reality that the people we mingle with on campus, downtown and on Wrightsville Beach are the young adults spreading STDs in our community.

If the statistics for STD rates show that 25 percent of teens contract an STD every year, it is important to question why they are so high. It is possible that young adults who pass these diseases on are completely unaware they have contracted them in the first place.

According to the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, “80 percent of people who have a sexually transmitted disease experience no noticeable symptoms.” A reality of college life is that many students have casual sex, possibly never talking to the partner again after that interaction. This fast-paced relationship based solely on sex does not leave the lines open for communication. If one of the partners discovers, months after having sex, that they have an STD they might have passed on, it is highly unlikely they will disclose that information to their former partner.

It is also worth noting that a lot of the research on STDs is done on young adults and college-age students. The STD rates are higher for people age 18 to 25, but people in that age group are typically more promiscuous than older adults. Also, more people age 30 and older are married than the age group of 18 to 25. This union of marriage means they are only sexually active with one partner, squandering the chance of passing on STDS.

No university-ECU, UNCW or ASU-should have fingers pointed at them for having high STD rates. Instead, we should look to the age group that is enrolled in these universities and their actions to minimize the high rate.