Catalyst Awards recognize LGBTQ community
May 9, 2008
Residential Life Associate Director Kristen Temple hugs junior Brittany Fore on Tuesday in Memorial Union at the Catalyst Awards. The 10th annual award ceremony recognized people who work to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning community.
Photos were encouraged, laughter was prevalent and tears seemed inevitable at the 10th annual Catalyst Awards Tuesday night.
The awards were given to honor those who speak up, out and often for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, Women’s Center senior coordinator Laura Hacquard said. Hacquard said there are many ways to speak out in the community.
Some people speak “simply by living out lives in communities that do not always embrace us,” she said.
Winners of the awards were announced at the banquet after presenters spoke about their contributions to the LGBTQ community.
“I am kind of a hard person to surprise, so you got me,” award winner Sarah Froese said.
Froese encourages people to get involved in the community, said Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Michelle Twitty, who presented the award to Froese.
Froese thanked her family for loving her and said she feels like she is living on purpose.
“I encourage everyone to live on purpose, be who you are,” she said.
Residential Life Associate Director Kristen Temple also presented an award. In her presentation, she discussed the idea of the ripple effect, using the example of a pebble that lands in water to create effects that spread out. She compared the pebble to junior Peer Adviser Brittany Fore, who won an award for promoting diversity and affecting residential life and all of campus.
“This person is really, not so much a pebble, more like a boulder,” Temple said of Fore.
Other award winners include artist Jane Lavender, who has an exhibit showing in the Missouri Students Association/Graduate Professional Council Craft Studio until today; Triangle Coalition President Joshua Barton; Gamma Rho Lambda sorority President Ashley Price; and MU’s Interactive Theatre troupe, which performed a piece called “Heterosexism” at the award ceremony.
The board of directors of the Center Project received the Laura Hacquard Excellence Award, which is not given every year. The Center Project is committed to creating a community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and ally residents of mid-Missouri, according to its Web site. The directors accepted the award to a standing ovation. LGBTQ Resource Center Coordinator John Elizabeth Faughn was also recognized at the award ceremony, as it is her last semester at MU
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