2006 POINT SCHOLARS

Brittany Bjurstrom

Wellesley College

Political Science

Brittany Bjurstrom grew up in a small, conservative suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and witnessed the effects of prejudice firsthand within the walls of her own high school. As a founder of her school’s first-ever Gay-Straight Alliance, she faced vandalism and harassment from multiple fronts of the community as the group sought to improve the high school environment for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities. As she graduates, Brittany looks forward to leaving the expanding GSA membership with a legacy of honesty and activism to be continued by dedicated underclassmen and to continuing her commitment to LGBT issues among students. Her high school years have been marked by extensive leadership in school and her community. She has served four years as a student liaison to the superintendent on the high school Student Cabinet, chaired numerous committees for student service projects, and dedicated her summers to translating Spanish at a local food pantry. In 2005, Brittany was proud to represent Wisconsin at the American Legion Auxiliary’s Girls Nation in Washington, DC, and has consistently applied to her passion for politics to further the causes of progressivism in local, state, and national elections.

At Wellesley College, Brittany will major in political science and international relations with the ultimate goal of attending law school. She plans to learn the law to uphold the foundations of justice in the interests of those who are often denied fair access to the legal system, and will continue to forcefully support the advocacy of women’s, children’s, and LGBT issues.

In Brittany's own words: “I am committed to creating a world where such current divisions as sexual orientation, race, religion, and gender identity can be expressed openly and honestly, bringing out the best in humanity’s diversity. There is too much work to be done to allow our differences to hinder real progress. When we lose sight of ourselves, we lose hold of our potential”