Hydeia Broadbent, HIV/AIDS activist and public speaker, will address students at 7 p.m. in the Kiva.

Broadbent was born to a mother with HIV. She was always in and out of the hospital as a child, and by the age 3, she was diagnosed with AIDS. Doctors told her she would not live past age 5.

She is now 27 years old, and she said she spends the majority of her time raising HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention methods.

Broadbent said that she will speak from the heart because she knows that college students do not want to hear a lecture, and the main point of her speeches include informing students about health care and the cost of HIV/AIDS.

“I really want people to know that this disease can happen to anyone, and I want people to start discussing AIDS without the fear associated with it,” Broadbent said.

Broadbent has appeared on national television programs including Oprah, 20/20, Good Morning America and many others since she was 12 years old. Ebony Magazine named her one of the “Most Influential African-Americans” among 150 people in 2008.

“I want students to know that just because I was born with HIV/AIDS does not mean that my story doesn’t apply to them, because it’s the same disease they can acquire if they don’t talk to their partners about safe sex,” Broadbent said.

Broadbent wants students to come listen to her speak so students will learn something to share with someone else.

The international HIV/AIDS activist will be speaking from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and admission is free.

Contact Haley Phillippi at [email protected].