Youth Scholarships Awarded
"If people hadn't come out before our time, we wouldn't be here. That shows the importance of coming out. Without the adults, there's no way we'd be here," said Hannah-Garber Paul, a University of Chicago lab School class of 2001 member, at the GLSEN Chicago youth scholarship night April 25. The annual awards from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network were presented to eight very diverse youth, representing city and suburban, North and South sides, male, female, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and even straight. Garber-Paul and Joe Hollandoner, a 1999 graduate from Marist High School, each received $1,000 Al Wardell Scholarships during the program, held at Sulzer Library.
Chicago Professional Networking Association presented four awards, to Latin School senior Ashley Quinto, who is not gay herself, but is president of her school's gay/straight alliance, and a strong advocate for gay rights. Her award was named for the late Brian Philpot, a CPNA member who died last year.
Also receiving CPNA awards were seniors Sarah Hansen and Adrianne Pontarelli of Maine South High School in Park Ridge, for co-founding the first gay/straight student alliance in their northwest suburban school district; and Sherrod "Sparkle" McGill, a transgendered youth who recently left Bowen High School after experiencing harassment from administrators.
New this year were the Aixa Diaz Latina Youth Leadership Scholarship, established in memory of Amigas Latinas member Diaz, a first-grade teacher who passed.
Oriana Fowler, a Whitney Young junior, received the Diaz scholarship, and Sadath Garcia, a senior at Latin School, was the Barajas-Reese scholarship recipient.
Also at the event, the About Face Youth Theater Project was presented the GLSEN Pathfinder Award for their groundbreaking work.
Following are abbreviated descriptions of the scholarship recipients, many of them who were accompanied by their parents and friends to the awards.
Joe is currently a freshman at UIC, majoring in social work. He is a 1999 graduate of Marist H.S. in Chicago, where he was a member of the National Honor Society.
He was leader of Marist's Spirit in Action Service Club, which included a Drug Awareness Week and a Diversity Day, and he served as facilitator and speaker with The Catholic Schools Opposing Racism group.
Starting at age 16, Joe volunteered for Aunt Martha's Youth Service's B-GLAD ( Bisexual-Gay-Lesbian Adolescent Defenders ) in the Far South suburbs and for its Street Outreach Program—which entailed going into local youth hangouts to describe the many programs Aunt Martha's provides, with the goal of lessening homeless and runaway youth. He's currently a member of Aunt Martha's Executive Board and is their Youth Issues chairperson.
At Marist High School—a private, all-male Catholic school—it was a great challenge to be a force to eliminate homophobia, but Joe tried. He did a training for the staff on the importance of understanding gay and lesbian culture. He also had administrators from Marist go to Aunt Martha's B-GLAD group to see how being gay might hold kids back if they are not in a safe environment.
Joe has participated in GLSEN's Youth Leadership Summits and the Midwest Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender College Conference, as well as being involved with the training and advocacy work done by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health's Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation. He works regularly with Toni Armstrong Jr. on GLSEN youth projects. He hopes to become the co-chair of the GLSEN youth committee some day.
He is a voting member of Cook County Department of Public Health's Regional Implementing Group, has volunteered on the Regional 8 HIV Needs and Assessments Team, and is a member of UIC's peer educator program through the Wellness Center.
Joe has been interviewed by several newspapers regarding the challenges facing queer youth, has been a featured speaker on LesBiGay Radio, and does speaking gigs whenever possible to advance the public's understanding of LGBT youth issues.
In his spare time, he has built homes for Habitat For Humanity and likes to spend his birthday every year volunteering at a local soup kitchen.
HANNAH
GARBER-PAUL
Hannah is a junior at University of Chicago Lab High School, where she has maintained a 4.0 grade point average. She intends to pursue a career in which she can continue to work for equality and justice, particularly for sexual minorities.
Hannah hasn't yet graduated from high school, but already her activist resume is more impressive than that of most adults. She has attended— and mostly helped plan—all six GLSEN Youth Leadership Summits. She has taken leadership among the leaders, teaching others how to be effective facilitators.
She's an active member—and has been vice president and president—of her school's Gay-Straight Alliance ( called Gayla ) . During the 1998-'99 school year, Gayla received an award for being one of the most valuable organizations in the Lab Schools community. Hannah has helped to make Gayla one of the most progressive and dynamic GSAs in the Chicago area, doing things such as bringing in speakers including Rev. Gregory Dell, Utah youth activist Kelli Peterson, and the About Face Youth Theater.
She has attempted to create open venues for dialogue and mutual education between the different diversity clubs at her school, which is more difficult than it sounds. Some students who embrace ethnic diversity would like to see LGBT students not included in the mix.
Hannah is one of the founding members of the About Face Youth Theater, which was created to give GLBTQ youth a voice to speak about their lives to all of Chicago. She's currently involved in its new Youth Theater production.
She is a founding member of Student Pride Chicago—the local networking alliance of all LGBT clubs and GSAs—and is currently its director.
Hannah has been chosen to attend various conferences, such as the NAIS People of Color Conferences and Youth Leadership Conference. These were followed up with speaking engagements at other schools and at workshops.
Last fall, Hannah spoke on gay marriage at the University of Chicago Law School's Round Table Series—other panelists included Rev. Dell, Rabbi Arnold Wolf, Prof. Martha Nussbaum, and several prominent lawyers representing both sides.
Teachers will especially like these things: Hannah has taken only honors and AP classes. She scored in the 99th percentile on the PSATs this year, with a perfect score in English. She's a member of Model United Nations. She received the Principal's Citation for excellent contributions to the school community and for raising the community's level of awareness, and she got the 1997-'98 Latin prize and French prize ( finishing in the top 10% of the national competition ) .
Hannah's been the assistant teacher for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday school classes at KAM Isaiah Israel, has studied Middle Eastern dance privately, plays viola, and is the founding president of her school's Habitat for Humanity chapter.
She also has volunteered at La Rabida Children's Hospital Infant-Toddler ward, as an assistant in The Ounce of Prevention Fund at the St. Paul Head Start program, serving the community adjacent to Chicago Housing Authority Robert Taylor Homes, and was recently chosen to attend the Hebrew Union Collage's conference for reform Jewish youth leaders.
ASHLEY QUINTO
Ashley is a senior at the Latin School of Chicago. For a career, she plans to pursue social activism through media communication.
In 1998, Ashley joined Latin's first meeting of the Gay Straight Alliance ( GSA ) and began to voice support for equality and visibility for GLBTQ issues. She has been a regular and consistent member who has worked to get others to join the club. She hosted a sign-up table at the club's fair and obtained more than 30 signatures for potential members. She has made regular announcements about GSA activities both within and outside of school.
She shared awareness of the Matthew Shepard murder and encouraged participation in the memorial marches. She has also worked to bring guest speakers to Latin.
Because of Ashley's openness and desire for the club to be inclusive of all persons who care about ending homophobia, more straight students are taking interest and participating. This year, she's the president of the GSA.
Ashley has written articles for the student newspaper on gender issues as well as on gay issues. She has also worked to create more awareness of the similarity of diversity issues that exists among Latin's many clubs. She has worked to bring greater awareness of Fuel club and About Face, and coordinated students from Latin's GSA and ECCO ( Latin's slam poetry and literary magazine club ) going to the Rainbow Cafe sponsored by the Niles West H.S. GSA.
A well-rounded student, during her school career Ashley has performed in numerous theatrical performances, participated in Model United Nations, sung in the Women's Chorale, and played soccer.
She has also participated in GLSEN Youth Leadership Summits. "We believe Brian Philpot would have been delighted to see Ashley get this first annual award in his honor," CPNA's David Kuluwiak said in presenting the award.
SHERROD "SPARKLE" McGILL
Sparkle is one of a kind. Once she gets through high school, she would like to pursue a career of doing make-up professionally, possibly in the theater or movies.
Sparkle has done many things to advance LGBT visibility and equality, especially for one so young. She was an out and proud trans student at Bowen—an African-American high school on the South Side where the concept of GSAs is still far from being accepted, let alone being supported.
She has not let anti-gay or anti-trans pressure stop her. Although what can be accomplished in the school setting is limited, Sparkle has nonetheless taken advantage of every opportunity to work on behalf of LGBT youth.
She has spoken on behalf of LGBT youth, including at college classes and in community settings, such as the recent presentation on the South Side sponsored by Youth Guidance. In May, she will be speaking with Toni Armstrong Jr. in Springfield at the IEA Diversity Conference. She has also spoken on LesBiGay Radio as part of GLSEN's monthly youth programming.
Sparkle has participated in GLSEN's Youth Leadership Summits, was a co-leader of the recent Summit 6 held at DePaul University, and plans to continue her activism as much as possible.
Sparkle is also pursuing legal options against Bowen administrators, who she says harassed her so much she felt forced to quit school.
SARAH HANSEN AND ADRIANNE PONTARELLI
Sarah and Adrianne, both seniors at Maine South H.S. in Park Ridge, are being honored tonight for their work in starting the first Gay-Straight Alliance in their conservative suburban school. Sarah and Adrianne's club—Students Preserving Unity and Diversity ( SPUD ) —is the first officially acknowledged gay-related anything in District 207, which has traditionally resisted any LGBT visibility on the part of students or staff.
Sarah plans on pursuing psychology or sociology in college. She would like to teach or work in social services in these areas, concentrating on women's, LGBT, and adolescent issues. She has participated in GLSEN's Youth Leadership Summits, and has worked with Pride Youth. She's the founder and co-chair of Pride Youth's Social Action, and a member of the Pride Youth Speakers Board. She has volunteered for Better Existence With HIV, has had work published in Nightlines and Outlines, and attended the Midwest GLBT College Conference.
Adrianne plans to major in physics in college, then she hopes to do research and teach at the university level. If all goes according to her plan, she will specialize in either electrical engineering or Quantum mechanics.
In addition to helping start the GSA at Maine South, she has a long and impressive list of school credits, including playing badminton and tennis, the Constitution Team, the costume crew, the Equinox creative writing magazine, Italian Club, marching band and symphonic band, the math team, Mu Alpha Theta math society, and Scholastic Bowl. Adrianne has received many academic awards, including being an AP Scholar, a National Merit Finalist, and student of the month in accelerated physics.
Adrianne is an active member of two community service organizations, T.O.F.Y.S. and Brotherhood. Through these two clubs she volunteered at the Maine Township food pantry, both REST and PAD shelters, and at retirement homes. She has also participated in Chicago's "Christmas in April" and Toys for Tots.
"I'm sure you'll agree with us when we observe that having two excellent students like Sarah and Adrianne advocating for LGBT equality and visibility is just what was needed to move District 207 forward into the 21st century where youth rights are concerned," CPNA's Kuluwiak said.
SADATH GARCIA
Sadath is a senior at The Latin School of Chicago. He is the first recipient of the Latino Youth Scholarship.
He is the co-founder of Latin School's Gay/Straight Student-Faculty Alliance, has attended GLSEN Youth Summits, and has been a member of the About Face Youth Theatre Project.
Sadath represented the Latin School at the National Association of Independent School's People of Color Conference in St. Louis and San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has coordinated assemblies where diversity issues were discussed throughout the entire school community.
In addition to his GSA work, Sadath is the co-founder his school's Latin American Student Organization, he represented the Latin School at the Anti-Defamation League's diversity conference at Northwestern University, and participated in the Ballet Folklorico Cinco de Mayo through the 10th grade.
Sadath has worked with Contact Chicago, a 24-hour crisis hotline aimed at helping people throughout the Chicagoland area cope with issues such as rape, domestic violence, and suicidal gay/lesbian youth.
"Sadath plans to continue to proudly advocate for both his Mexican and gay cultural heritages. He is the perfect recipient for this scholarship," said Javier Barajas in presenting the award.
ORIANA FOWLER
Oriana Fowler, a junior at Whitney Young High School who's in the top 15% of her class, has always wanted to go into business, and she loves everything about theater. So, it makes sense that she plans on studying Theater Management after high school. Her top choice is DePaul's Theatre Conservatory, as it's important to her to attend a college that is both liberal and urban.
Like Aixa Diaz, the person this scholarship honors, Oriana strongly believes in equal human rights. She's the vice-president of the PRIDE club at Whitney Young high school—the first gay-straight alliance in the Chicago public school system. During this school year, PRIDE has sponsored a "Day of Acceptance" where they invited speakers and held school-wide discussions about gay issues. They sparked controversy by putting a picture of Tinky Winky on their bulletin board, and then, when the picture was vandalized, the GSA spearheaded a "Tinky Winky Was the Victim of a Hate Crime" campaign.
Oriana enjoys theater, photography, and tennis. She's participated in and co-facilitated GLSEN Youth Leadership Summits. She recently wrote an article about the dating scene for single lesbians that was published on the website PowerStudents.com . Last summer, she was part of the production First Breath at About Face. She is again participating in the workshops for the next About Face Youth Theater Project.
Oriana says, "PRIDE and About Face are two big things I've done, but I think my daily role in activism is just as significant. I wear a rainbow flag on my bookbag, no matter where I go. If I hear someone use the word gay to mean stupid ( 'This homework is so gay,' for example ) , I call them on it and explain how that is derogatory to homosexuals. I'm not ashamed or afraid to stand up for what I believe in."
Oriana values her Latina heritage, and appreciates that her PRIDE club is so diverse. She says, "Gay, straight, freshman, senior, out, questioning, Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, shy, outgoing, artistic, tall, short—everyone brings a unique perspective. I am a minority as a Latina, and as a girl who identifies as bisexual—and by accepting this and being proud of who I am, I can find greater strength for continue living as an activist for equal human rights for all."
Spanish was Oriana's first language. She's traveled to Spain, Panama, and Mexico as well as to her mother's home in Trujillo, Peru. Everywhere she goes, even in Catholic schools in South America and Madrid, she's not afraid to openly claim her bisexual identity. She makes a point of educating people everywhere she goes about what the American rainbow flag means, said Evette Cardona of Amigas Latinas, in presenting Oriana with her award.
Oriana says, "I am not fighting for acknowledgment and acceptance of Hispanic gay people, but for all. My Latina heritage is an important part of my work because it is an important part of me. It is my mother's culture, my background—my thick hair and tan skin, my middle name, my first words, my love of Peruvian food and dance; it is my heritage, and so it is always with me, including when I step out to work with About Face or clear my throat to begin a PRIDE meeting."
