Shannon Collins is passionate about many things. When she talks, you can hear it in her voice. She cares about the environment, she cares about people, she cares about AIDS and HIV awareness. Somehow, instead of getting tired or worn out, she seems to get more excited and more eager to take part in things that matter to her. Even more amazingly, she has found a way to practice all her passions at UNH.
Shannon remembers the moment in high school when her path toward being an HIV counselor began. Two people came to give a presentation about AIDS awareness; one person had AIDS and one was HIV positive. "It moved me enough…and it had an impact on me," she says. While attending Keene State College, she participated in a week long training with a man who had AIDS and it reignited the spark she felt in high school. She started an awareness group with friends, "Know Your Status". This was only the beginning of her work with HIV/AIDS awareness.
When Shannon transferred to UNH, she says she needed to do something. She was reading an article in The New Hampshire about HIV quoting Peter Welch. Shannon went and found Peter, a Wellness Educator and Counselor at the Office of Health Education and Promotion. Her initiative resulted in Peter offering her an internship as an HIV/AIDS counselor.
Before Shannon was allowed to start the counseling, she had to participate in an American Red Cross training, preparing her to discuss HIV test results with people. "We used real results from HIV testing. I left the room, and my counselor got the result of positive: ‘You have HIV’. It was so real because it was someone out there. I saw their test and it was so surreal. It empowered me to be able to do what I do at Health Services. I’m really thankful for that experience because it will last a lifetime." Shannon is only the second student ever at UNH to be an HIV counselor. “I get so into things, I just want to help. I exhaust myself. I can’t not speak up. I just can’t stay silent.”
Shannon, a psychology major and justice studies minor, also joined the Peer Education Sex Group and goes to residence halls to teach about sexual education. "The biggest thing about surviving college is that you have to be active. No one else is going to do it for you,” she says. “College is very consuming on many levels. You have to find a breather." Shannon has found that breather – a few, in fact. Her time is taken up quickly with psychology and justice studies classes and the intense HIV counseling, but she found her breathers in both the Organic Gardening Club and Tae Kwon Do.
Shannon admits that Tae Kwon Do was radical for her. She joined the class because she wanted to have inner strength and feel really confident in herself. For Shannon, her yellow belt stands for everything she has achieved. "It came in that moment: here I am, I have a role, I am powerful. I didn’t know I had this in me! It encompasses everything about perseverance and pushing yourself." Joining the Organic Gardening Club gave her the chance to be around people who have similar passions about the environment and lead her to the Waysmeet Center and Community Dinners. When she went to her first community dinner, she didn’t know what to expect. "We had a pasta dinner and a drum circle! It’s quite spiritual. One girl sang ‘Amazing Grace’ and it was completely silent. Everyone sits on the floor, we break bread together, we eat together, and then we cleaned up together. It connected me to the campus in a new way."
In ten years, Shannon sees herself traveling 
all over the world. “I want to see many faces and fun things in cultures. I want to know what burdens people have. I want to have seen and connected with many people,” she says. On the day that we met, Shannon wasn't sure if she would have courage to sing at the Community Dinner that night. Knowing Shannon, she probably will.
