LGBT Leaders and Allies Honored at Student Life Awards Ceremony

Several student leaders were honored at the annual Student Life Awards ceremony April 17, including those who received awards from the LGBT Center for service and leadership on campus.

The Katy Garrison LGBT Student Leadership Award was presented to student leaders who either worked in the LGB T Center during their college career or led an LGBT-themed student organization.  The award is named for its first recipient, Katy Garrison, who now works for the Center leading coming out support groups and facilitating student panel presentations.  The recipients were Aldo del Sol Martinez, Emalee Huber, Noah Sparkman, John Pajcha, Katie Rabalais, and Sam Speaks.

Two students received the Amber Carrier LGBT Ally Award for their work alongside the LGBT community and their active support of LGBT students and issues.  The award is named for its first recipient, Amber Carrier, who worked tirelessly to establish a graduate assistantship position in the LGBT Center during her graduate career at U of L.  This year’s recipients included Sagar Patagundi and Morgan Brickley.

Sagar is the president of KDC FIRE, a group of students and community supporters working for immigration reform.  In his work for undocumented students, Sagar has spoken out about the importance of looking at intersectional issues and includes LGBT students as part of his focus.  Morgan collaborated with the Center this year to develop training for fraternity and sorority members that addressed the inclusion of transgender members.  She traveled to the national ACPA conference to co-lead a workshop on the topic with Center program coordinator AJ Jones.

Jacob Jones, who served this year as the resident assistant (RA) for the Center’s Rustin Themed Housing Community, was named RA of the Year by Housing and Residence Life.  Jacob has also served as an LGBT Center Ambassador and studied abroad last year as part of the Center’s Queer Politics in Greece course.

The Cultural Center gave its Engagement Award to Ana Ruiz, who has served as an ambassador in the LGBT Center and is a frequent panelist for student presentations.  Ana will be traveling to Greece as part of this year’s study abroad experience.