Meet Our Scholars

Born into a boisterous, Bostonian Irish-Catholic family, Jonathan grew up in a household filled with family and laughter. He came out as a queer man in his sophomore year of high school to the support of his family, though found a unique challenge while coming out to his closest ally: his twin brother. While both identified as queer, Jonathan and his brother spent years learning to accept, grow into and express their queer sexualities in productive and ultimately rewarding ways. Though they both continue to understand their mutual queer identities differently, they have ultimately grown closer as a result of working through such challenges. Heavily involved with the LBGTQ community in high school, Jonathan intended to continue his activism once in college. As a first-year student he created the 'Iris House,' a school sanctioned residential space for LBGTQ students and allies. Although a positive step forward, Jonathan found that the campus' intolerant views resisted social change. He spent much of his time at the college feeling isolated and ostracized from his peers, choosing to transfer to Oberlin College in his second-year. Jonathan graduated from Oberlin College in 2011, majoring in comparative American studies. He looks forward to using his education to become a professor of American studies with the hopes of using the academy as a site of progressive and radical social change.