Every year the University High School of Science and Engineering (UHSSE) Pride Club holds a kickoff. At this year’s kickoff there was a welcome breakfast in September, and both current and new members were encouraged to bring a friend with them to get the club’s name out there. “The breakfast was well attended, and it was great to witness what an open and accepting environment the club has created.” said Pride Club Advisor Kate Grayeb. Like every year the club is interested in recruiting new members. It was very exciting for them to recruit new members and they are always open for more.
The club also feels like they are having a good year, one of the programs that they are planning to launch is an LGBTQ+ training for staff at UHSSE this coming spring. They feel that it is one of the many ways that they can contribute to helping the school climate and culture be as inclusive as possible. They would also like to extend this workshop to students one day in the future. They’ve also had many events. “In our third year of operation, we’ve come a long way.” said Pride Club Advisor Joseph Tarantino. “At the moment, we have a handful of school wide events that have become a habit to implement, like Pronoun Day, but we are also eager to launch some new events.”
Students are also enjoying Pride Club this year. “I enjoy how close everyone in Pride Club has become. said Madeline Dube ‘25. “We all became friends very fast and had fun during the club as well as within the school.” The Pride Club comes together every Friday, and they talk, which is one of Dube’s favorite things about Pride club, she said that it is a very tight knit group that they’ve created so they talk about many things. One thing she feels that Pride Club can improve on is their impact within the school. So far, she defines their club as small and unknown, compared to other clubs, so she’d love to make a bigger appearance within the school. She also agrees with Mr. Tarantino & Mrs. Grayeb that the club has had a lot of people attend this year.
In terms of what the Pride Club has accomplished, Mr. Tarantino said that they have been working with Q+, which is a local organization that works with LGBTQ+ programs for youth. He went with a group of students to a conference that they held at Windsor High School, and they felt that it was a really meaningful day of workshops and networking opportunities for the students to meet similar clubs from other schools. Mrs. Grayeb had similar thoughts on the clubs accomplishments, she said that they consistently host the Day of Silence each spring to bring awareness to effects of bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ students.
Lastly, Mrs. Grayeb’s favorite thing about Pride Club is that their members get together every Friday morning. No matter what they have planned for the day, they are excited and happy to be there because they know it’s a space where they are comfortable being themselves. They also have a amount of staff/ally attendance this year, which contributes to their members feeling like they have support in all spaces of the school.
