by Aleicia Zhu
Meet the leadership of the Gender and Sexuality Association for the 2020-2021 school year.
Aleicia Zhu: Okay, so, I guess for each of you, how long have you been in GSA? Since its inception?
Greyson Feather: Yeah, so I know I had kind of helped start it back when I was a sophomore. So I guess now that I'm a senior, this is the third year. So yeah, I kind of had been emailing Mr. Brown, Mr. Evancho, and a bunch of the teachers being like, hey, how do I start a GSA, and Isabel and Alex both helped me with this. Some of the at-the-time seniors at the school also helped me with it. But, yeah, three years.
Alex Brennan: Yeah, same for me.
Okay, so, I'm really proud that it's an official big boy club now.
Greyson Feather: Yeah, that's a big achievement, when all the way from nothing to big boy official club?
Alex Brennan: Yes!
Aleicia Zhu: So, what are you think are the specific skills and experiences that helped GSA grow into what it is now and maybe move it forward in the future?
Isabelle Papa: I think one of the reasons GSA was so successful in terms of getting a lot of members was that it really was like a gaping hole in the Biotech community. Like, people didn't talk about the LGBT community or being not straight at all. And I would always find out that like someone identified as this or that, and it was like, what, I had no idea. And there was no space for people to just kind of be open about all of these different topics. So I think GSA had kind of a wide appeal for that group of people, and even people who are just interested in learning about the community and different things because the club is also educational.
Aleicia Zhu: I know that Biotech is a very small school. And a lot of kids do come here as the only kid from their hometown, so they don't really have any friends. How do you think GSA can try and help people build connections at school and make friends between different grades?
Priya Mehra: I think we're just like, just generally—do you want to talk?
Phoebe Gan: Oh no, you should go first.
Priya Mehra: I think generally, we're a good friendly community. Even as a club, we're not as formal as other clubs. We're all friends. Like, whenever we have a meeting, we all just get into conversations about things that are off-topic. Obviously, we talk about really serious things. And like, you know, the really homophobic and transphobic parts of our like world and all of the bad stuff going on. And all the inclusive stuff within the group, though, just makes that so much easier to deal with within our little bubble. And that just kind of makes a really friendly environment.
Phoebe Gan: And also, we have—oh, no, sorry. Sorry to interrupt you.
Aleicia Zhu: No, it's okay!
Phoebe Gan: Okay, so during our meetings, many people, we can speak up on our own personal experiences, and then we'll find other people who are like, Oh, I can relate to you. Therefore we can form connections, and we have more trust in each other as well.
Isabelle Papa: And just from my personal experience, I'm from Fairhaven. So I was one of two people from my town to go to biotech, and there wasn't a GSA my freshman year, but I think it would have been nice if there was because it kind of gives like an automatic sense of like, Oh, this is a group of people that have things in common with you, that you can be like, friendly with right off the bat versus like trying to find a friend group or some friend groups are already formed when you get there, you know?
Aleicia Zhu: And then, you know, of course, sadly, Ms. Kelterborn is having to leave Biotech and GSA. Are you confident that BTHS can find a good person to fill her shoes?
Greyson Feather: Yeah, I think we definitely can. Like, I know I've had teachers come up to me and kind of say that like they'd be willing to help the club in any way. Like, at some point, I had like Mrs. R say something like that to me when we were first forming the club. So I definitely think there are teachers out there. And I know that we had a lot of support from faculty when we were forming this club like teachers, mainly. So, I definitely think there will be teachers in the future who are willing to step up and be the advisor for the club, even though Ms. Kelterborn corner unfortunately can't anymore.
Aleicia Zhu: Yeah, it's really nice that we have such a supportive faculty. And, for now, the gap until we can find an advisor, until we find a principal first, do you think that GSA activities will be kind of limited by this?
Priya Mehra: I think they're going to be limited in general, just because of the fact that club meetings aren't really going to be happening. So, in terms of what we're going to be doing as a club during the school year, it probably would have been very student-led anyway. As long as we can take the initiative to have virtual meetings was, which is probably the only way we're going to be able to have meetings, we can still meet and talk to each other and have good discussions. So that will probably be the extent of it for now. Not really, because of limitations of like faculty leadership, but more just because of world restrictions.
Greyson Feather: Yeah, we've always been like a pretty student-led club. So I feel like not having an advisor or having an advisor change isn't that big of a deal, but the COVID stuff is probably gonna make meetings more difficult.
Aleicia Zhu: And, you know, at school, one of the main criticisms is that the extracurricular activity is kind of lacking. And, you know, a lot of other clubs don't meet nearly as regularly as GSA does, like GSA had a meeting almost every week. Do you feel like you can keep up with that during the school year?
Alex Brennan: Well, I think we're going to try.
Isabelle Papa: Yeah, I think there's always, there's always something to talk about, especially in today's world. There's always some event that we can talk about, and see how it affects our community and our school.
Greyson Feather: Yeah, because I think we don't just like talking about things, we also kind of make a safe space. So we did have a couple of meetings last year that were just kind of like chill sessions, like doing Pictionary and stuff. And just to be in kind of a supportive environment, where you feel like you can be relaxed around people in your community. So I think we definitely can have a meeting every week. We have the ability to unlike some other clubs.
Aleicia Zhu: Yeah. So like, I know, there did use to be other older clubs, like Key Club or Environmental Club that no longer exist, usually due to the lack of an advisor and it's good that our GSA can keep up and continue to live on. And besides that, what do you think will be the biggest challenges for GSA going forward?
Greyson Feather: I mean, for challenges, like, now we need an advisor, that's like a pretty big thing. We also I think we kind of need to work out like, I know, we have plans to like go to Pride and stuff. And we kind of need to work that out and how it's going to work because we had plans and they got canceled and now if we're going to this, we're going to make this like a yearly thing going to pride. It's gonna be hard to do that, especially because that's right when elections occur in June. So like all the leaders now are going to be gone when we go to Pride, if we can go to Pride. So there's certainly going to be a challenge with getting this routine of what GSA does as an official club. It's gonna be hard to get that routine, especially right now. We're not in school. But, yeah.
Aleicia Zhu: Yeah, so, of course, GSA is a very conversation-based club. And that, unfortunately, also means that it doesn't have a very big school-wide presence. So it would be good to be able to organize more events and trips as an official club. Considering the virtual format, how do you plan on recruiting new members, especially from the incoming freshmen class?
Priya Mehra: Mass email, probably. I mean, I can't really think of any other way to do it, especially because I don't know if any of us are even going to be in school. And we're not really going to have much of a way to meet the new freshmen otherwise. So I guess that'd be probably the best way to do some outreach.
Phoebe Gan: If we think about it, because most students are going to be virtual, we can also utilize social media if we want to reach out to the freshmen. So we can make our own Instagram and such if you want to reach out to the new class, incoming.
Greyson Feather: Yeah, I think that's a good idea trying to use Instagram. Cuz I just sending mass emails like a lot of freshmen I know don't check their emails.
Alex Brennan: Yeah. A lot of clubs have their own Instagrams and stuff where they post. So I think it would be cool if we could have one too.
Aleicia Zhu: You know, I hope that club fair can still happen in a virtual capacity. Like, at least they could maybe link them the presentations. Or we could get here awkwardly when Google Meets waiting for freshmen to come visit us.
Greyson Feather: We could do like all the colleges and have little virtual tours. Guys, this is my room. This is my closet. This is what I came out of. (Laughter) I've been watching too many college tours. That's all I'm thinking right now. But yeah, we could do like a virtual, kind of a virtual video presentation or something being like, Hi, guys, this is GSA. So that this is what we're about. So that way the freshmen can hear someone talking about it, not just like reading an email yet
Priya Mehra: And there's like a face to like, what's going on here?
Aleicia Zhu: And, you know, GSA has been interested in trying to help out with the Black Lives Matter movement in the past. How do you plan on trying to converge it with LGBTQ issues?
Priya Mehra: So, like, GSA is more than just an LGBTQ organization, we're just a general inclusive community. We want to have an open discussion about all of the issues that are going on in the world. Black Lives Matter is obviously a huge deal in the world at the moment and should always be. So we just want to promote activism on every issue in that realm in the same way that we would for LGBTQ issues. Se just, we just want to promote discussion, and promote education and, you know, do what we can with the resources that we have being that we have limitations because we're a school club. But yeah, we just want to do what we can.
Isabelle Papa: Yeah, I agree that just discussion and education is often a really good first step. And it's oftentimes also the hardest step to take. So, in terms of actual projects, or things we could do, obviously, I don't have anything on the top of my head right now. But I think just having that as a starting point, and having this club as a space for discussion about these, you know, controversial issues is a good thing.
Aleicia Zhu: And I guess, I recall one hilariously fun attempt at creating a nice bulletin board. How do you want to continue to do activities like that, and making sure that they're efficient and that GSA is moving forward?
Greyson Feather: I mean, like, the bulletin board that we created, I think that was good because it was about LGBT, LGBT books and films and stuff. So that was good, like information for the general public to have. But also, I don't know, it was kind of fun to make. Like, it was kind of a little bit chaotic, but it was just fun. I think having things like that, that we can do as a club that are fun, and that just make people enjoy going to school when they might otherwise feel uncomfortable at school or whatever, like having a space that they can kind of relax and have fun in and just do fun projects like that. Like I really hope that's something that we're going to be able to continue to do. Obviously, virtually it's a little harder to do that. But I think just having activities like that really tailored to each community but are fun to make and do is hopefully something we can continue to do in the future.
Aleicia Zhu: It was a really cool and fun thing to do as a club and kind of as a bonding activity. Even if you were just the person holding the scissors. That's all good and like, do you have any specific plans about what kind of activities you want to do in the short term or long term?
Greyson Feather: I don't think we have any, like specific plans right now. Like, again, everything like, it has been so thrown off by being virtual, because if we were in person, I would say, we had originally been planned with that bulletin board to keep, adding stuff to it and changing stuff. And like during Pride Month talking about like, changing the board to be LGBT history. And so we had plans, and then everything kind of went off the rails when we went virtual. So in terms of this coming year, we don't have any specific goals, because it's so hard to know, like, exactly what's gonna happen next year.
Priya Mehra: Yeah, I think we're just gonna try and do virtual meetings, and just keep the community open. Because I think that's just like something people need to have, like, even if you're not in school. So just like, keep talking to people and just have nice, friendly conversations every week.
Aleicia Zhu: And, you know, for the newspaper, if you want to do any sort of media, like the kind of thing that we did with the bulletin board, you're always welcome to do that as an idea. How do you feel about the future of GSA? Optimistically? Pessimistically? Meh?
Greyson Feather: I'm optimistic. I like to be optimistic. I think, you know, I think GSA is going to be a cool club, even once we leave the school.
Alex Brennan: Yeah, I'm pretty optimistic too, because now that we have a GSA, I feel like we can only grow from here and get more members and more influence around the school and become more of a presence. So like, I hope, hopefully, we don't get killed off. But I don't think there's any chance of that happening now.
Priya Mehra: Okay, so good.
Aleicia Zhu: Considering that GSA is very much student-led, how are you going to try and keep on the legacy, keep people motivated, and make sure that future leadership genuinely cares about GSA?
Greyson Feather: I feel like this is one of those clubs that most people who are actively coming to meetings probably care. This club exists for a reason. People want to be in this community and feel accepted in this community. So, I think that I want to have faith in the Biotech student body that there are always going to be people who are passionate about the LGBT community and about leading this club. You know, I don't know if that made sense, but
Isabelle Papa: Yeah, I just have to say that I agree that we have a pretty solid base of like, underclassmen numbers that I could see a bunch of different people possibly rising up into, like leadership positions, which is a really good thing.
Aleicia Zhu: Alright. So that about concludes my interview. And I think that we know enough about GSA to hopefully try and give the freshmen a good overall view of what GSA is as a club and what you want to do moving forward.
