PFLAG TUCSON 2011 SCHOLARSHIP
AWARDS
PFLAG Tucson awarded five Eugene Moore
Memorial $1,000 scholarships and one Mark Woodland Memorial $1,000
scholarship at a reception held on June 1, 2011 at the Ward VI council
office. Additionally, Tucson LGBT, Tucson’s Family Connection supporting LGBT
families, awarded four $250 book scholarships.
PFLAG Tucson began its scholarship program ten
years ago in memory of past president, Eugene Moore and as a tribute to the many
exceptional LGBT students who may not have family support, either financial or
emotional. Over the past ten years over $30,000 has been awarded to exceptional
students who have shown outstanding leadership in the community as well as
academic excellence.
PFLAG is proud of these students and proud that
this small organization of approximately 75 members has been able to sustain
this effort and contribute to the academic success of over 50 students over the
past ten years. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please mail your
check to: PFLAG Tucson, P.O. Box 36264, Tucson, AZ 85740.
Erin Durban-Albrecht
Erin has used every opportunity to positively transform the world for LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities. She is currently enrolled in
the PhD program in Gender & Women’s Studies and is an instructor, teaching
Introduction to LGBTQ Studies. There is no way we can do justice to Erin’s many
accomplishments in the short time we have.
Her history of activism begins with Eon when she
attended the Queer Voice youth leadership retreat for the first time in 1999.
She states that it was there that she received the skills necessary to make an
impact in the community and to be an agent of change. She became the GSA
President at Tucson High Magnet School and organized a campus-wide “No Hate
Speech” campaign, initiated the school’s participation in the National Day of
Silence Project, coordinated a hate crimes victims’ commemoration and co-edited
a newsletter about queer youth. During this time she also volunteered at
Wingspan, SAAF and Queer Voice.
While a senior in high school, a volunteer at
Wingspan gave her an application for the newly created Gill Foundation GLBT
Leadership Scholarship. She applied and was the first recipient at the
Metropolitan State College of Denver. This scholarship enabled her to go to
college. She immediately became involved with numerous LGBTQ groups. She
graduated in 2006, magna cum laude, with a degree titled, International
Politics: Race, Class, Gender and Liberation. After working for a year at a
local non-profit she returned to attend graduate school at the U of A.
Her dissertation is focused on gender/sexuality
non-con-forming communities in Haiti and its Diasporas. Her master’s paper
addressing how traces of past violence, including sexual violence under Duvalier,
and contemporary structures of dominance haunt the Haitian culture, was
“brilliant and theoretically significant and lays the groundwork for her
interdisciplinary research, now, into the lives of queer migrants and return
migrants”, stated the Department Head in her letter of recommendation.
As a full time graduate student, Erin works as an
RA 20 hours a week and continues to volunteer in the community. Her department
head goes on to say that Erin is not only brilliant, but has the originality,
initiative and drive necessary to succeed in her chosen field. Despite her
humble and difficult beginnings, Erin has attained a level of excellence that is
mind-boggling and we suspect we have only seen the tip of the iceberg of what
she will accomplish in her lifetime.
Melissa Griebel
Melissa’s journey began in a Fundamentalist Christian home. From that beginning
to her present situation as a candidate for a Master’s Degree in Social Work and
the mother of two adopted children, this path has been long and winding. During
this process she has lost all connection to her “family of origin”.
Melissa’s children were adopted in domestic, open
and trans-racial adoptions. As a result she has spent a decade working, as a
volunteer, on improving adoption ethics through a non-profit organization. She
also helps in running a social group for LGBT families and has sat on the board
of an LGBT organization that provides support to individuals who have left their
former religion. She volunteers with TIHAN, founded the Greater Vail Area
Chamber of Commerce and now serves as President of the Tucson GLBT Chamber of
Commerce.
Her many experiences, including her early
religious upbringing and as a single gay mother enhances her ability to
empathize and support others with similar circumstances. Her career goals are
specifically to work in the adult behavioral health system. She recognizes the
great need in this area and hopes to be able to utilize her life experiences as
well as her education to make a difference in the lives of others. Melissa has
already made significant contributions to our community and we expect to benefit
from her compassion and knowledge for years to come.
Laura Hapeman
Laura stated in her application that one of the most powerful and transformative
moments in her life was accepting that she was a member of a marginalized
community in the U.S. and that instead of letting her sexual orientation hinder
her from success, she would instead be an advocate and instrument for change.
She has chosen to do this in the field of education, an area that has always
held particular interest for her. After graduation from Knox College in Illinois
she was hired to teach World and American history at Sahuarita High School. One
of the major challenges she faced with this new job was the fact that bullying
and harassing, both verbally and physically of gay students, was prevalent. She
immediately began to help foster a more tolerant environment and became a
sponsor of the Gay Straight Alliance on campus. Because of the work of this
organization there was a decrease in the verbal and physical assaults. Also, gay
students became less frightened to speak up and teachers became more aware of
the issues and began to reprimand intolerant students.
Because of these experiences, Laura realized that
she wanted to work on a college campus as a student affairs professional with an
ultimate goal for a career as a director of an LGBTQ office. She is currently a
master’s student in the Center for the Study of Higher Education and maintains a
4.0 GPA. Beginning in the fall of 2011 she will serve as the first LGBTQ Affairs
Graduate Assistant and will be responsible for running the Safe Zone Training
program. She volunteers for a variety of other projects such as the Rainbow
Graduation and hosting a GSA day on campus.
One of her references stated that Laura was one
of the brightest students she had the opportunity to work with and that her
presence in a room transforms a group of students from one of interest, to one
of passionate engagement.
Sugey Lopez
Sugey
(her girl friend is shown here accepting the award) is a student at Pima Community College with plans to transfer to the U of
A school of nursing. Her future looks bright, but this wasn’t the case in her
past. Five years ago when she came out, she was disowned by her parents,
excommunicated from the Mormon Church, separated from her siblings and rejected
by most of her friends. She stated that everything she knew her life to be was
gone and she had to start from zero. After so many loses she realized that all
she had was herself and she couldn’t let herself fail.
Pima was a totally new environment, new school,
new people and new country, but she immediately got involved in school
activities and clubs. She became the treasurer of the International Student
Club, and then became the club President. When she heard that the Student
Government Vice President position was open, she ran and won. It was at this
time that she began daydreaming about what could be done to get more LGBTQ
students involved and offer them a safe space. When she was elected Student
Government President, she realized she could actually make those day dreams come
true. Sugey has done that in many ways. “Get involved” has been her motto, and
more and more students and teachers have responded to her challenge. Bridges
have been built to other community organizations, events have been sponsored,
and she says the response has been more than she could ever have expected.
Sugey says she has never hidden who she is, and
her goal is to ensure that others never have to hide who they are. She has all
of the qualities of a true leader, and we are happy to present her with a PFLAG
scholarship as well as a $250 book scholarship from Tucson LGBT.
Brandon McBrien
Brandon is the winner of the scholarship being awarded this year in memory of
Mark Woodland, son of our own Art and Elaine Woodland. Brandon exhibits all of
the qualities that Mark valued and represents the excellence that was evident in
all that Mark did. Brandon has faced many challenges in life and in his
education, which he states have engendered in him a drive and appreciation for
education.
He was born into a strict religious household and
attended religious schools his entire life, ultimately following his family’s
wishes and enrolling at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. After years of
struggling with his feelings of being gay, he confided in his best friend during
his first year at the Bible Institute. His best friend’s concern for his soul
drove her to seek guidance from the Resident Director and this information was
eventually shared with the University Dean. He was confronted by the
administration and given the ultimatum to either move out of the dorms, meet
with a psychiatrist twice a week and allow the administration to monitor his
“recovery,” or be kicked out of school. He respectfully asked to be able to
finish his last two weeks of the semester before leaving. He was allowed to do
so but had to explain to his family and friends why he was leaving. He says this
was one of the most difficult periods of his life. As time passed, he says he
learned to love and forgive more completely than ever and reconciled with his
friend who outed him, and this friend has now become an involved and passionate
supporter of gay rights.
Brandon has the unique ability to learn from even
bad experiences, and says that his experience at the Bible Institute allowed him
to build self-confidence and self-determination. He is currently a triple major
in Architecture, Business Management and Regional Development at the University
of Arizona. He is a member of the Honor’s College and active in three other
honors societies on campus as well as co-president of a group called Citizens
for Solar Students. His career goals are centered on social efforts and
non-profit promotion. Brandon believes that developers, architects and designers
have the ability and responsibility to shape the buildings and spaces that shape
people’s lives and in doing so make the world a better place. We believe he will
do so.
Stephan Elizander Przybylowicz
Stephan is from a rural town in upstate New York. The fact that the local
library only had two books about being gay when he was coming out has been
significant in his career choice. He is in his second semester of the Masters
program in the School of Information Resources and Library Science. His
interests are in archives, federal libraries, academic libraries, digitization,
youth services and social justice. He states that he has a special interest in
providing information about LGBTQ lives and increasing the availability of
gender and sexuality resources. He believes that information is power and hopes
ultimately to create his own gender and sexuality resource library that would
provide physical and online resources for increasing research in this area, with
the ability to reach communities where the subject is taboo or poorly
represented.
Stephan is active in community service in addition to his academic work. He
is a SafeZone Facilitator at the U of A and designs and presents workshops on
General LGBTQ issues and Ally Development as well as an advanced workshop on
Transgender issues. He is an active member of the University of Arizona Pride
Alliance and has participated in wingspan’s SAGA General Meetings, EON Hot Meals
and PFLAG events.
