GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — In an effort to provide more awareness of the LGBTQ+ community, UW-Green Bay’s Pride Center is helping run Pride Camps for middle school and high school students.
The middle school camp is from July 26 to July 30 and the high school camp is from August 2 to August 6.
Both camps are free through the generosity of the LaForce Family Foundation.
Students will have the chance to meet LGBTQ+ peers and allies and work towards expanding their personal awareness of the LGBTQ+ community.
While the kids are taught a wide range of curriculum from art to theater and even leadership skills, one of the organizers says they also focus on LGBTQ history.
"We start about Stonewall but also earlier than that, often students are not aware of any of the pride history because it's not taught in the schools and so if they want to learn about it they have to learn online, and not everything online is accurate," said Stacie Christian, Ph.D.
Dr. Christian is the interim associate vice chancellor of inclusive excellence at U-W Green Bay.
She said it's crucial these students learn from a young age the deeper meaning behind the word pride.
"We want to make sure that they have a good understanding of what the history is of individuals who are leaders, why there's pride alive, why there's, you know, parades, why people are afraid to go out and be employed, they might be fired, what states would they be been safe in? When the change came in for same sex marriage, suits gender marriage," Christian said.
Dr. Christian also described this camp as a safe haven for anyone who is afraid to be themselves or looking for ways to express their identity.
"I'd like them to be able to be confident of who they are early, have good conversations about that, grow and develop at the typical rate that one does and be able to come out when they graduate from college or if they don't go to college then when they graduate high school or whatever they do. They're at the better weight internally so they can go and become strong leaders," Christian said.
Organizers of the camp say they're hoping this can be a way to continue to empower the leaders of tomorrow in works towards a more inclusive society.
"There's people from all different walks of life, different races, different religions, individuals who feel supported in their family, and some that only one or two are supportive of them. So they get to meet each other," Christian said.
