Meet Our Scholars

Growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, Adrienne Adams understood “his” developing queerness, gender queerness, and multi-ethnic identity as personal, rather than political. Engaging in the Coalition at Oxy for Diversity and Equity (CODE) and taking courses in the Critical Theory and Social Justice Department have challenged Adrienne to realize the necessity to engage in “personal as political” activism. At Occidental College, Adrienne has worked toward creating spaces of healing, solidarity, and cultural conscious-raising in order to ensure that other queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) understand the importance of participating in intersectional, political movements. Adrienne'’s activism at Occidental has included creating a peer mentorship for LGBTQ students, co-establishing a separate branch of student government that holds Occidental administration accountable to diversity and equity, and organizing a large-scale event centered on the poetry of a South Asian Trans art collaborative. After completing “his” undergraduate degree, Adrienne plans to complete a law school degree, public policy degree, and/or a Ph.D in ethnic studies. Adrienne intends to focus on practicing radical collective care with other activists, increasing affordable housing resources for lower income QTPOC in Los Angeles, and co-creating children’s literature that illuminate the complexities of queer and genderqueer identity.