The University Board will have Mike Benner, the executive director of the Greater Eights program of east-central Illinois, on Wednesday to speak about his experiences with HIV.

Karla Centeno, the cultural arts coordinator for the University Board, said Benner will be giving information about AIDS and HIV in the local community.

“The focus will stay within the community,” Centeno said. “When we think of AIDS, we think of Africa, that they are far away and not close to us. The reality is that we have AIDS in the America, in Illinois and in Charleston.”

Centeno said Benner, who has been HIV positive since 2002, will be giving facts about HIV from a personal perspective.

“(A personal connection) is something that gets lost in the terminology that doctors and professors use sometimes,” Centeno said.

Centeno said students do not get to hear the personal experiences of individuals with HIV.

Benner has been open about having HIV because he wants to help spread information and awareness in America.

“He is so open about having HIV and wants to share his experiences,” Centeno said. “Most people who are infected are usually quiet, they usually do not tell people about it and what they go through.”

Benner will also be touching on the subject of AIDS and HIV in the campus community and

atmosphere.

Centeno said she is looking forward to learning more about HIV because it is not something people know a lot about.

“It is something a lot people avoid talking about, or are not open to talking about,” Centeno said. “It is important to be enlightened on the effects of HIV.”

Benner will be speaking at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Centeno said it will give students a new perspective on HIV and AIDS and its effects.

“There are a lot of things that we hear about, but we never see it through the perspective of someone who has HIV,” Centeno said. “It allows us to have a special connection that we wouldn’t get any other way.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.