Episode 2 - The Queer College Student Experience

College is a huge time for change; new environment, new friends, new teachers, new clubs and organizations, the list goes on. And when you’re given this much freedom to begin anew, college becomes a tremendous period of growth and development. But what happens when you’re not given this freedom to thrive as your authentic self? What happens when there’s barriers that discourage and discriminate against you? When you don’t feel comfortable or even safe, do you even have the freedom to experience change? In this podcast, we’ll explore the various struggles faced by queer folks attending college, while also touching on experiences unique to queer BIPOC students. We’ll also be discussing the various resources available on campus and ways fellow students and teachers can help queer students foster a greater sense of belonging and pride in their identity. Joining me in this discussion is my guest Grian Wizner; a senior at UConn majoring in Secondary English Education with a minor in English who has worked at UConn’s Rainbow Center for 3 years. He is also the president of DeColores Collective, the Latin and queer student organization on campus. Ultimately, queer students are just as deserving of the freedom that the college experience grants us to become the very best version of ourselves. It’s simply a matter of how much is being done and how much more we can be doing to give queer folks the confidence needed to thrive.Transcript