In late September several Point Scholars had the opportunity to take part in two exciting conferences in Chicago. First up was the oSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) National Meeting at the W Chicago-Lakeshore Hotel, which scholars Katie Fife and Tyler Kissinger attended.
Katie, a neurobiology & Plan II Honors major at the University of Texas at Austin, noted that as a lesbian woman in STEM she is a, “minority within a minority” and that “it was an incredible experience to be able to connect with other STEM LGBTQ students from around the nation.”
Tyler, a physics and mathematics major at the University of Chicago, made a number of new contacts at the meeting, which will no doubt prove useful to him as he works to create an oSTEM chapter at UChicago.
![oSTEM_Kissinger_Fife](https://pointfoundation.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/missing-image-Jul-05-2022-06-51-15-42-PM.png?width=490&height=350&name=missing-image-Jul-05-2022-06-51-15-42-PM.png)
Point Scholars Tyler Kissinger and Katie Fife
The oSTEM National Meeting was planned in collaboration with the 8th Annual Out for Work Conference, which took place September 29-30 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Out for Work conference seeks to help LGBTQ students transition into the workforce. It included seminars, a career fair, and networking opportunities for LGBTQ students from dozens of colleges and universities across the nation.
With financial support from Point, five Point Scholars attended the conference; in addition to Katie Fife, they were Noël Gordon (political science – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor); Abbey Muzatko(fine arts – School of the Art Institute of Chicago); Erika Turner (religion – Wellesley University); and Preston Whitt (international affairs – The George Washington University).
![Out For Work](https://pointfoundation.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/missing-image-Jul-05-2022-06-51-15-42-PM.png?width=490&height=367&name=missing-image-Jul-05-2022-06-51-15-42-PM.png)
Point Scholars (l-r) Preston Whitt, Noël Gordon, Erika Turner, Katie Fife, Abbey Muzatko