This week’s campus celebrity is Alyssa Dachowicz, the president of IUP’s own Pride Alliance. In the year 2011, IUP was rated as one of the least LGBTQIA+ friendly campuses. Since then, the Sophomore has been working to increase awareness and affirmation of the pride community. Through various education programs, pamphlets, and presentations, the pride community has begun to triumph over the multitude of negative stereotypes. Although the alternative life style is still riddled with negativity—ranging from comments to actions—the strengthened community at IUP has greatly benefitted from the collaborative efforts of Pride Alliance’s leadership team.
The greatest emphasis of Pride is focused on making the meetings a safe place to talk about any struggles each member may be facing. In addition to the weekly meetings each Thursday, there are also a variety of other resources such as Not Just Straight, a program run by the counseling center to support the LGBTQIA+ community. Recently, the Pride Alliance collaborated with the Haven Project to produce a Candlelight Vigil to support the victims of domestic violence and bullying. For the first time in IUP’s history, the Pride Alliance was also encouraged to participate in homecoming, and, as luck would have it, National Coming Out Day.
Outside of the Pride Alliance, Alyssa, a Political Science, Pre-Law major can be found participating in ROTC or as an intern for Kevin Freeberg’s campaign. For more information on the Pride Alliance, Alyssa and her leadership team members can be found on Crimson Connect.