GSA Summit 2020 was held at Boulder County Human Service Department in Longmont last Tuesday. FHS’s GSA club attended the event along with many other schools in order to learn more about LGBTQIA +, rights, issues, and current events. As well as learn how to address issues with friends and family, have healthy relationships. As well as to have fun. The students who attended the event got to see a real drag queen perform, socialize with others and expand their knowledge on the LGBTQIA + community. From the sound of things, everyone had a blast.

Lately, there have been a lot of issues within the community even after issues have been resolved. More issues continue to come up. For some people, it may make them feel unsafe or insecure about who they are. GSA Summit has given students, parents, and family members along with anyone, in general, a place to go learn and have some fun.

What are some of the positives of attending an event like this? Was a major question that came up. A lot of positives came from this. Students are able to meet with peers from other schools, they were also able to get a huge variety of information presented to them. Parents and family members also got to learn about the community.

“It’s like a fun social gathering/party, complete with drag queens. Even parents who attended were given the chance to ask questions, get information about how to better support their LGBTQIA+ teens,” Mrs. Tayler told us.

Talking to some students who went to the event helped too. Lydia Traxler who was one of the students who attended the event helped us to understand what happened as well as some of the positive effects that came with it. There were a lot of cool things about the whole entire event but to Lydia, one of her favorite parts was just being able to go and meet some amazing, kind, open-minded people in such an immersive environment. Even the atmosphere sounded like it was perfect for this event.

“The atmosphere of the area was ecstatic and exciting. You could feel the open arms of the welcoming people around you,” Lydia told us.

Nothing could have beaten this year’s GSA Summit. With lots of learning fun and excitement, it left a lot of students excited for next year’s meeting including Lydia. Nothing seemed to be missed, everything presented at the event seemed to fit perfectly and help everyone there to learn and have fun.

One thing that we were curious about is what do the students and staff who attended the event think should be brought back to FHS. We learned that there are hopes that inspiration and enthusiasm for supporting our GSA teens will be brought back to FHS along with ideas for future events to be held at FHS. Lastly and of course there are hopes that a stronger sense of community will be further built and brought to FHS.

This year’s GSA Summit sounds like it was an amazing event. Bringing lots of knowledge to the table by helping students and families to learn more about the LGBTQIA + community as well as provide them with a safe and open environment. With performances of drag queens and much more it left everybody who attended feeling better and happier with what they learned. It’s a great event and it has a lot of meaning behind it too.  I really hope that we can bring more things to Frederick to help with the community. The conference definitely sounded like a lot of fun, it left a lot of people even more excited about next year’s conference that’s for sure.