Montera Middle School’s LGBTQ+ club hosted a Pride Event on Oct. 25, celebrating people of LGBTQ+ people and their allies.
Mx. Tate Jawdat, the leader of Montera’s QSA club, organized the event and chose students in the QSA and SYL clubs, in order to prepare for the event. They contacted multiple queer groups and brought them to Montera.
Through an online Google invitation that students received in their email, 200 students attended the event. There were games, pins, stickers and cake available for students in attendance.
“I am proud to present a safe space for those who identify as LGBTQ+ here at Montera,” Mx. Jawdat said. “It makes me happy to have a space where students can feel accepted and part of a community.” As a non-binary identifying adult, Mx. Jawdat wants the students here at Montera to express themselves without fear of being shunned or mocked.
A member of SYL created an online Google form that students could fill out in order to attend the event. Students filled out the form with information on why they wanted to go and if they wanted to go, before submitting it back to the member. The member, Kiran Yeager, along with Mx. Jawdat, sorted through the emails and decided who should go.
Nearby Pride communities brought advertisements and souvenirs to the event, hoping to recruit students and make themselves known. Mx. Jawdat’s sister brought handmade cakes decorated with the rainbow that was served to students who filled out a worksheet. Pins with different Pride flags and pronouns were handed out to students as gifts for attending. Mini flags scattered across the tables were available for students to take.
QSA member Madeline Lu, along with SYL member Yeager, counted skittles into a jar in order to set up a guessing game. Attendees wrote down the number of skittles they thought was in the jar on a slip of paper, and the closest guess won. At the end of the event, Lu and Yeager announced that student Sydney Lee won with a guess of 2,600, the number being 2,632.
“I was kinda surprised. I only entered for fun and put down a random number. When my name was called, I was like ‘oh, wow,.’” Lee stated. “I didn’t actually expect to win.” Lee ended up gifting the skittles to her cross country coach as a birthday present.