Meet Our Scholars

Growing up in Mississippi, Sarah Bacot learned to appreciate her queer identity for the unique perspective it provided and for the empathy and strength it helped her to build. As a student at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, Sarah developed resources for queer students on campus and in the larger Memphis community as an activist and student leader. As the Co-President of the Gay-Straight Alliance, Sarah worked with other queer students and allies to create safe spaces on her campus, including a Queer Resource Room and designated LGBTQ-friendly housing. Sarah also worked as an intern for the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center and created and found funding for an LGBT Community Development Fellowship. In 2013, Sarah was one of 40 students awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship; the legacy fellowship of the founder of IBM, given to students to pursue projects of personal passion She spent the year after graduation in Poland, Argentina, India, South Africa, and Canada pursuing her project, 'Out of the Closets, Into the Streets: Exploring Queer Identity through Community Organizations and Pride Parades.' Her year abroad strengthened her desire to work for social justice. She will continue her work with queer people through a career in public interest law.