Major: Women and Gender Studies [minor: French and Hispanic Studies]
Year: 2013
Hometown: East Greenwich, RI
How did you get involved with Trisk? – Trisk was on my list of things I wanted to get involved with Freshman year- I picked a few things I was going to do for clubs and I found that most of them weren’t exactly what I was looking for, so I dropped those and decided to become extra involved with Trisk. I found Trisk to be an amazingly welcoming community and I really liked and respected their mission and the way the functioned. I was elected co-treasurer by the 2nd week of my Freshman year, and I’ve been on the executive board ever since.
What is Trisk? What are the different groups in Trisk? – Trisk is the LGBT / Queer and Ally Undergraduate Student group. We have general meetings weekly on Thursdays at 8pm in SCC 328, that alternate between things that are more informative and educational, and those that are more social and laid back. We also have big events like coming out week, trans awareness week (which includes a trans jewish punk band) this year, dances, and the drag show. The branches within Trisk are : TransBrandeis, a group that works on issues of gender and strives to make institutional changes but also form a community and increase Trans Awareness; SASS, the Sex and Sexuality Symposium, a discussion group that delves into all topics of gender and sexuality and hosts a research conference in the spring, QPOCC, the Queer People of Color Coalition, discussing issues of intersectionality, and the QRC, the Queer Resource Center, a library, educational resource, and counseling center that is open weekdays 12-4.
How did you become President? – I became president this year, because after being a treasurer, and then the sanity coordinator last year. I am extremely dedicated to this group and feel that it is has offered me incredible opportunities. I wanted to put in as much as I could to this group before I graduate, and help steer Trisk towards a great future, too.
What sorts of events does Trisk organize? We organize awareness weeks [coming out week, trans awareness week], speakers, performers – November 19th at 11 pm in the SCC we’re hosting a Trans Jewish Punk band named Schmeckle, dances, the undergraduate research conference, and the drag show!
What is National Coming Out Week? What sort of events did we have on campus to celebrate the week? – National Coming Out Day is October 11th, a day that celebrates individuals that identify within the queer umbrella and celebrates the act of coming out as a rite of passage. Trisk has celebrated this day, and for the past few years we have used this as an opportunity to both raise our visibility on campus and get more people involved. This year we had a mural painting event to kick off the week, an ally brown-bag lunch, branch meetings, cookies on the Rabb steps, a Coming Out Stories meeting, a rainbow lulav making event, and we tabled in Usdan doing a post-secret event throughout the whole week.
What sort of things do you help coordinate in Trisk?– i dont want to answer this question as i dont want to take credit for personally coordinating anything because I have a full executive board and everyone is great and helpful and we all work together. I don’t do anything alone, we all work as a team, and support each other.
Which Trisk groups are you involved in?I’m involved in everything other than QPOCC because their meetings have been closed so far this semester.
When does Trisk meet?Thursdays at 8pm in SCC 328
SASS: Tuesdays at 5pm in the ICC
QPOCC: every other Monday at 9pm in SCC 328
TransBrandeis: TBA