Some Boston University students know how awkward it can be for high school students to talk about sex and drugs with their teachers. That’s why they’re stepping in and answering those questions from a college perspective.

The New York-based Peer Health Exchange program, in its second year at BU, has 72 members who spend time each week at different Boston public high schools talking to students about those touchy subjects, including sex, rape and relationships.

“We train college students to teach a comprehensive health curriculum to Boston public ninth graders who otherwise would not be receiving health education,” said PHE co-coordinator Jamie Sharp.

The Peer Health training includes teaching students how to avoid drugs and sexually trasmitted diseases.

College of Arts and Sciences junior Christine Roque said PHE volunteers visit public schools around Boston every Friday during the freshmen’s free periods. Because BU “peers” are close in age, high school students respond well to the volunteers, Roque said.

“Seventy-six percent [of freshmen] said having college students teach them was more effective than teachers,” Sharp said.

Deep Patadia, who works at PHE with the Leadership Council for STDs and HIV, said PHE taught at about five high schools last year and hopes to expand its outreach to between eight and 10 schools.

“BU alone should be reaching 600 teenagers this year,” said CAS sophomore and PHE co-coordinator Kelsey Johnson.

Volunteers give a test to the high school freshmen at the beginning of the year to see how much they know about health topics and then ask them to take the same exam at the end of the year to see how much they have learned.

Eighty-eight percent of high school freshmen said they planned to apply what they had learned to their lives, Johnson said.

Not only do the high school students receive health lessons, but the volunteers also go through extensive training to prepare to teach younger kids. The facts the volunteers study are approved by physicians, health officials and lawyers, Roque said.

“We really don’t try to preach any one type of lifestyle,” Sharp said. “We just present them the facts.”

Clearing up common misconceptions is also part of the job description for PHE members.

“You’d be surprised how many myths there are that people think are true,” Roque said of her experience teaching students about HIV.

The BU students recognize the myths and aim to clear up concerns objectively.

“Peer Health Exchange gives teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions,” according to a PHE informational pamphlet. “Teenagers today are engaging in risky behavior at alarming rates, harming their bodies and their futures.”