This past Saturday, May 7, Campus Pride featured special guest Compete Magazine "2010 Athlete of the Year" Michael Holtz at the Campus Pride Swim & Meet Pool Party Fundraiser. The private VIP event was hosted at the home of Greg Jenkins and Shawn Rawleigh and their outdoor pool . Other sponsors and contributors included Armins Catering, Tyvola Design, Compete Sports and Jockstrap Queen.

Campus Pride raised $5300 and exceeded its goal. Thank you to our hosts Greg Jenkins and Shawn Rawleigh, our sponsors and all the individuals attending and for supporting our work for LGBT youth in Charlotte and across the country.

You can still donate online to Campus Pride at www.campuspride.org/donate.asp

Hey everyone! Sorry about the brief hiatus; finals and papers have got me bogged down like never before. Just one more week!

OPEN finished up our semester with a lovely holiday party. We’ve been collaborating with several other clubs and events, including CureFest— a flea market type event with artists and vendors from the area, with a portion of the proceeds went toCentral Massachusetts Health Awareness Services in honor of World AIDS Day. We also worked with VOX (student advocates for Planned Parenthood) at their annual Sex Fest—a FUNdraiser promoting sexual health and awareness (we had a “Pin the Gender/Bender on the Person” game table!).

I feel really good about this semester. It’s been an eventful one for OPEN, and a monumental one for me.I can’t help but feel like the tireless hours I’ve put toward the organization have helped us bring about some majorly successful events. The intimate relationships I’ve worked to create and maintain with the members have been a great source of joy, and my Executive Board and I have become very close friends. I’ve learned a lot about what are realistic goals, what are not, and why realizeability shouldn’t always be my main concern (a queer’s gotta have dreams, ya dig?). It feels really good to look back on four months with great events and member turnout and think, “Wow, I helped make that.”