On Wednesday September 30, during LAP, several LGBT students pile in for an exciting meeting between LGBT and straight students. The meeting was ran by Ms. Leslie Miller, a Spanish teacher at Paint Branch High school. Before the meeting, there was a lot of socialism and interactions between the students. The desks were formed into a big circle to get everyone into the action. Ms. Miller opened the meeting with clarifying normally she doesn’t talk too much in the meetings, she leaves the whole discussing to the students. She also explained how the club is for the students to speak out and not so much her, which lead to her saying if a student keeps going in and out the classroom or continues to use their phone they will not receive SSL hours for that day.

On this day it was mostly an introduction where all the students had a chance to meet one another and introduce themselves to people who didn’t know them. The students were very enthusiastic about the way Ms. Miller set up everything. A game was made out of the introductions of one another. In the game, one student had to roll a dice and then have to say his/her name and then answer a question about him/herself corresponding to whatever number he/she rolled. Also during the meeting the students established ground rules, such as: Be respectful to others and what they say (be positive), understand others (be mindful of other people’s experiences), ask questions, don’t assume, what’s said in here stays in here, the whole group synthesized on the rules.

GSA is for ones who have a place to express themselves with no judgment. Some students haven’t decided to come out to their friends and others, some not even to their own parents and just need somewhere to feel accepted; the way everyone applauded and all had positive attitudes developing a warm environment. GSA is for LGBT students to come and feel comfortable around people who aren’t only their friends but also others they can relate to. The whole environment was caring and accepting, they did a very good job at making everyone feel welcomed. When asked how long this club has been around, Ms. Miller responded “I came in 2013, and it was already here before me”. When asked what made her want to run this club, she responded “When I was in high school, nobody was out and I felt alone. GSA is important to me so nobody feels how I felt,” This club gives students a safe haven for students to be themselves free of any judgment, open to any and everyone.