Event info: Doane will offer Free HIV/AIDS testing in Perry Campus Center from 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26. Like almost all college campuses, Doane offered a special AIDS testing day last year.
Four students took part.
By the end of the day Tuesday, Feb. 26, Doane senior Maggie Sheehy of Hastings plans to see a one-day tally that's closer to 500 -- or about 50 percent of Doane's residential campus.
She has spent the past few months organizing a free AIDS testing day built around a challenge to Greek organizations.
The Greek groups will receive $100 if 100 percent of their members get tested.
Doane has about 200 students in its nine Greek organizations.
Sheehy is working to get non-Greek students there as well, in addition to members of the Crete community.
She even talked her father - Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy - into getting tested on campus, too, along with Doane President Jonathan Brand.
Someday, she'd like to see this turn into a national project involving Greek groups across the country.
For now, she'll settle for a good turnout at Doane.
A double major in biology and psychology who plans to attend medical school after graduating in May, Sheehy has devoted a portion of her college career to AIDS awareness and activism. She spent two summers as a counselor at Camp Kindle - a camp for children affected and infected with HIV and AIDS.
She saw the devastation of AIDS in Africa firsthand, while living there as part of the college's Semester in Africa program.
Last summer, Sheehy and other young counselors at Camp Kindle sat together throwing out ideas about how to get people to take the AIDS test.
Not just people engaging in risky behavior.
Everyone.
The answer, they knew, was to reduce the stigma.
Sheehy thought college campuses were a logical place to start.
"But it's offered on campuses all the time. People just don't get tested," she said.
But what if they could get the support of Greek groups and use it to build something with national impact?
To entice better participation, Sheehy's project includes reward money.
If 100 percent of a fraternity or sorority's members are tested Tuesday, they get $100.
If one person among the group does not get tested, the reward drops to $50 and then falls to a dollar amount matching the percentage of the group tested.
Each of Doane's nine Greek organizations has agreed to participate, Sheehy said.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive. I'm really proud of everyone."
Sheehy is a member of the Phi Sigma Tau social sorority, who will supply many of the volunteers Tuesday.
They'll also be visible on campus Monday, handing out flyers and spreading the word to students who aren't part of the Greek system.
It will culminate weeks of work leading up to the big day.
Much of the credit, Sheehy said, goes to Dr. Heather Lambert, assistant professor of psychology, who helped with the planning.
"I told Dr. Lambert about it in passing and she said ‘Let's make it happen.'"
They contacted the Nebraska Aids Project, who is supplying 15 volunteers and each of the $20 test kits for free.
They secured a service learning grant through Doane's Chaplain's Office for the reward money and miscellaneous expenses.
They accepted a donation from Dr. Tom Tonniges, a Doane graduate who is now the pediatrics medical director at Boys Town, to cover the volunteers' transportation costs from Lincoln and Omaha.
The project fit perfectly with Sheehy's academic experience and future plans, according to Lambert. As part of an independent study course with Lambert, Sheehy interviewed Dr. Joann Schaefer, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the state and the director of the Division of Public Health.
"I am so proud of Maggie for her efforts in this project. It is inspiring to see a student combine her classroom learning with a passion for such critical social issues....AND take action to produce change in our world," Lambert said.
After all the planning, Sheehy had one last phone call to make.
She dialed her father, Nebraska's Lt. Governor.
Could she borrow a little of his publicity power?
He'll be there, taking the test himself in Perry Campus center at 1 p.m.
Hopefully, he'll be No. 501.