About Us

The STARS Program is based on the belief that young teens should postpone sexual involvement. The program is delivered in five separate classroom sessions and is led by trained high school teen leaders who are recruited from local high schools.

From the Oregon STARS Foundation:

By becoming better educated about the risks of sexual involvement, middle-school children have a reason to choose abstinence. Through the STARS curriculum, they gain skills that support them in saying “no” to sex, as well as other high-risk activities like alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

The STARS Program is designed to teach middle school students how to say no to sexual involvement, providing information and skills-building tools to help students resist social and peer pressure to become sexually involved before they are ready.

Skill-building includes:

• Recognizing peer and social pressures

• Acquiring skills to resist pressures

• Using positive peer role modeling

• Reducing teen pregnancy and sexual involvement

The STARS Program does not provide information on methods of contraception or other reproductive health issues. It is recommended that the program complement other basic human sexuality and reproductive health curricula.

STARS in Douglas County

STARS is delivered in 13 of 15 Douglas County middle schools.  Over 1,000 middle school students receive STARS each year, and 100 high school students are recruited from local schools to learn how to be STARS Teen Leaders.