For the sixth year running, Dickinson College once again hosted the Gay-Straight Alliance Summit of Pennsylvania this past weekend. This year’s event was co-sponsored by the college and Planned Parenthood of Central PA.
The GSA Summit, according to Central PA’s LGBT Center, is designed as a two day retreat to help educate and encourage students on ways to combat harassment, how to serve as a community leader and ways to organize events to promote acceptance at their schools.
This year’s summit was held over two days. The first day of the summit, on Friday, Feb. 22, focused on high school students while the second day, on Saturday, Feb. 23, focused on college students. Each day’s events were centered around stations and stalls located on both levels of the Holland Union Building.
Brian Patchcoski, director of LGBTQ services, explained that community members and vendors also came to provide resources for those in attendance.
“[We’re] breaking down stereotypes and encouraging education,” he said. “[I’m] excited to see where we go [from here]. Dickinson is making progress.”
Patchcoski noted that the number of attendees has grown annually.
“There is a good array of people coming from liberal arts colleges to other [types of colleges], like Penn State,” he said. “[There’s] a strong interest in coming and seeing what this is about.”
Paula Lima-Jones, director of diversity initiatives, expressed satisfaction with turnout at this year’s summit.
“I have really been impressed,” she said. “I’ve been part of the GSA Summit each year it has been hosted here and I think each year not only do we see a more diverse group of students coming, we are also getting really thoughtful presentations, both [on] a practical side and also more make-you-think.”
Dickinson students appreciated the presence of the summit.
“It was great to see a lot of people that identify as LGBTQ come together from this area [of Pennsylvania], considering it is a relevant issue on campus,” said Aaron Hock ’15. “It also provides a lot of great resources.”
Background research for the story was done by James George ’15.
