Bonjour a vous tous qui êtes connecter aujourd’hui.

I’m an international student from a small country located in West Africa called Benin, who came to the US about five years ago in order to pursuit her passion for sports. Over the years though, this passion had faded, to the advantage of a new and stronger one which laid me all the way to Campus Pride.

My name is Elvire Agossou and I’m currently in my senior year at Bridgewater State College, doing a double major in Psychology and Physical Education. I use to be all about athletic participation and competitions, but now my life revolves around one word: “Validation”. My personal philosophy behind this, is: Always be confident of being the person you feel you are in your guts, because you are the best at being yourself.

I strongly believe that anybody should be comfortable with who there are and allow to be themselves at all times. I love reminding this to all (myself included) as sometimes experiences might come around, shadowing the greatness in us from our own eyes

I study to be a personal trainer and a counselor in order to acquire the tools to develop the body and mind. I believe that people should be accept for who they are and be comfortable with their person or strive to achieve peacefulness within themselves. I’m a person who loves making herself available for others to talk and open up to as I know this helps a great deal at relieving some of that daily stress that is so common.

I’m not specially an activist though I love advocating and know myself to always strive for inclusion in all things I do. I became an ambassador of our GLBTA Pride center on campus a year ago in order to provide support and advocacy for a community that rightly deserve to be treated like all others: Equally. I do my work on campus as a huge Queer Ally. I know myself to have a voice that can be pretty loud when needed and it is my goal to be heard and help others be heard also.

I was recently been honored and privileged enough to attend the third summer leadership camp organized by Campus Pride and moreover, had the blessing to hold the status of the first international student to ever go through this unique experience with Campus Pride. These six days together with more than eighty other campers had been pure inspiration for me as it had truly affected my being in ways I can’t even begin to describe. The time together was amazing and very instructional. It had presented, revisited and exposed topics and issues affecting the GLBTQQAA community. Most importantly, every second of camp held in itself such an empowerment to all of us there, that by the end, though it was hard to say goodbye to one another, each and every one of us was fired up, ready to get back on our respective campuses, filled with new energy to continue making changes toward the right direction: social justice.

The greatest thing I got from camp is the community I now know to belong to. This once in a lifetime experience had strengthened my persona, confirmed a passion I hold within and provided me with the skills and tools to continue to strive to be the change I want to see in this world.

Ciao folks
~EL