The National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (NaBITA) has recognized UTRGV’s Superhero project with an award for Best Practice and Institutional Impact for their work during 2018.
On Nov. 5, Douglas Stoves, associate dean for Student Rights and Responsibilities, along with Superhero Project peer educators Mario Flores, Ingrid De la Torre, Ceilhy Garcia and Ana Rodriguez attended the NaBITA conference in San Antonio to receive the award.
Stoves said the award was to recognize the work that the project has been engaged in.
“Last year, we counted the number of impressions, numbers of times that either people have viewed our content on social media, attended a training or tabling,” he said. “Our six students have reached out to over 47,000 individuals.”
Garcia, a peer educator for Student Rights and Responsibilities, said she was really happy for the recognition and for the hard work the team has shown over the years.
“Especially because we started off like, well together, right, as one institution, but it’s taking a lot of hard work from, like, us and previous employees to do it as one campus, in terms of, like, Edinburg and Brownsville,” Garcia said.
During the three-day conference, along with receiving the award, the students and staff from the office of Student Rights and Responsibilities participated in seminars and conducted a panel discussion, Garcia said.
“In that, along with our supervisors, we did a presentation of the work that we have done ever since the program started and then we answered questions, basically,” she said.
Stoves said that during the conference the students received sincere words of appreciation for their work.
“One of the things that was most telling to me was when Dr. Chip Reese, former president of the organization of NaBITA, told them that because of the work that they are doing, people are alive today and we know that is something very true,” he said.
Moreover, Stoves said he felt incredibly proud of the students and their effort towards the program.
“The students put in a lot of hard work and I was very happy that they were recognized for all the work that they do,” he said. “They are at every event, they are the ones who are most directly responsible for the numbers of contacts that we have every year.”
The Superhero Project is a universitywide initiative to promote the idea that individual Vaqueros have the power to prevent high-risk behavior and harm, according to the university website.
“Superman doesn’t let the train go off the cliff, you know. He acts on it and he works to address the issue. That way, people will be safe,” Stoves said. “That is much of the same thing that we are looking for from the Superhero program.”
For more information about the Superhero Project, email srr@utrgv.edu.
