The Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC) is in a little corner of campus near Kitao (the student art gallery) and Olde Club (the student music venue). Formerly the WRC (Women's Resource Center), the GSC recently changed its name to be more inclusive to all gender and sexuality minorities on campus. I work at the Center, and I love it a lot! We host all sorts of events and have all kinds of resources for queer/gender minority students. Some of my favorite fun events we hosted last year were our Spring Picnic, Fire Pit Friday, and Body Liberation Week Tabling.
The GSC Spring Picnic, a collaboration between the Center, the Office of Sustainability, and the Arboretum, was so cute and fun! We scheduled it towards the end of the Spring semester as things were winding down momentarily before winding up again for finals. The picnic, held outside in the Good Food Garden, included tons of snacks (as do most of our on-campus events since college students are pretty food-motivated). We had little finger sandwiches, cookies, brownies, lemonade, and, of course, a tea station. In addition to making tea using pre-made bags, we (with the help of Sue MacQueen, our beloved campus engagement director for the Arboretum) were also able to make our own teabags. Sue came with an assortment of dried herbs we could use in our teabag-making endeavors. I was suffering the day of the picnic because Swarthmore spring always means lots of pollen, and I am allergic to pollen. However, Sue told me what herbs and teas would be good for me and my sniffles, and I was able to hand-make a specialty bag. On our campus, there's always someone looking out for you!
Another of my favorite events we've hosted is our Fire Pit Fridays. A few times a year, usually in early fall or late spring, the Center hosts Fire Pit nights, where we all gather around a fire pit, sit in hammocks, make smores, and do many other fun activities. We usually have a big inflatable screen and a karaoke machine, so loud (and sometimes a bit off-key) singing is popular and super fun to do with your friends. We also usually have a bunch of crafts available for people to do. We have a laminator and usually buy dried and pressed flowers, so making floral bookmarks is always a huge hit. We also usually have chapstick-making kits, which are my favorite because I always use mine. Our Fire Pit nights are a great way to meet new people, relax, and have fun on campus (and, as always, all our events are free).
My final favorite event (that I have room to talk about here, because I could talk about our beautiful events all day) is the Bodily Autonomy Fair. The fair, which is a collaboration between a bunch of other groups on campus (including Worth Health Center, the Student Wellness Educators, the Sexual Health Advocates [aka SHAs], and the Title IX office, to name a few), aims to provide students with a more in-depth insight on bodily autonomy and the resources we offer to help students. The annual fair, which started my freshman year in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, does a lot to inform students about our rights and resources on and off campus. We partner with organizations that provide gender-affirming healthcare, we give out free disposable and reusable menstrual products and explain how to use them safely, we talk about abortion access resources, and we try to make sure everyone feels safe and supported. I love the Bodily Autonomy Fair, not only because I think the work we're doing is genuinely incredibly important and I want other Swatties to know the resources available to them, but also because it's so rewarding to see so many people at the fair learning about new opportunities and resources that College provides us with.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Swarthmore in the first place was because I knew I wanted to be on a campus with ample resources and ample support. Obviously, we have TONS of academic support (multiple advisors, available professors, Student Academic Mentors, etc.), but the non-academic support at Swarthmore has really made my time here. I love working at the GSC and planning fun events for the students. I love creating a safe space for queer students on campus. I love letting people know about all the resources we have for them. I love that Swarthmore has allowed me to find and be a meaningful part of this community.
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