Hear directly from Point Scholars and Alumni.
In January 2004 my grandparents took me to Havana, Cuba to meet my family there for the first time. A month later, the Bush Administration revoked family visitation rights, leading to an eight-year separation from the aunts, uncles, and cousins I had only known in stories and pictures until that visit. At age 13, I […]
Six years ago, four friends and I sat at a tall wooden table near the entrance of Darwin’s Pub and waited to see if anyone else would show up. We had just come from the keynote presentation after a full day of conference talks at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology’s annual conference. That […]
I have always been cognizant of the health disparities and difficulty in accessing care that is pervasive in the LGBTQ community. These barriers exist due to the increased rate of poverty, lack of insurance, and non-affirming healthcare for LGBTQ individuals, among others. My own lived experience as a queer man and the stories of other […]
Though many people have their reservations about 2016, for me, I’ve been able to grow both as a student and budding professional. As someone who holds many marginalized identities, I’ve come up with my own way to describe my experience as a Queer Latinx Woman in STEM: “Angie in STEM.” 2016 has given me the […]
At the beginning of September, the University of Arizona hosted the inaugural Trans*Studies Conference – an international and transdisciplinary conference on gender, embodiment, and sexuality. Spearheaded by the incredible effort of U of A’s Institute for LGBT Studies, planning for the conference concretely began last Fall with the assemblage of a steering committee […]
A few weeks ago, Point Foundation hosted its Leadership Education & Affinities Development (LEAD) Consortium on Policy & Law, which served as an opportunity for Point Scholars, Alumni, mentors, and guest speakers to convene, exchange ideas, and brainstorm about the current state of LGBTQ advocacy. We were greeted by a number of policy analysts, legal experts, […]
Having grown up in a low-income household, I never had the opportunity to travel very far. In fact, prior to the Point finalist interviews in Los Angeles, I had never flown or been outside the South. So I was extremely excited to go to Washington, D.C., for the National Leadership Conference (NLC) for my second […]
I am a senior at the University of Michigan majoring in social theory and practice. Social theory and practice is a build-your-own-major option where you are able to choose a focus within the social science field and take courses from different departments to fulfill distribution requirements. All students in the major are required to complete […]
I didn’t fully realize just what I was doing; stepping into the glare of the hot California sun on a 105 degree day with four suitcases, a box, and a backpack — I wasn’t aware of the adjustments I would soon be making and how the next three weeks would be. These past three weeks […]
“Who feels like their sex ed didn’t fully meet their needs?” Fifty hands immediately flew into the air. Unfortunately, it didn’t surprise me. My co-presenter, Lex Loro, wasn’t surprised either. When we asked this question during our workshop at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference, we knew the response we would get. We […]