It's almost time for camp! I'm headed back, this time as a Pride Leader, and... well, here's what's up:

See you soon, campers! More fantastic Campus Pride updates soon :D

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.

Hello guys! My name is Danny Thomas and i attend Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. I am a junior Majoring in Sociology with a minor in Sociology in sexuality studies. I plan to work in a field where I can work with Teenagers and educate them on various things that they are aften sheltered from learning about. Being there as a mentor for them as they go through some of the toughest years of their life. I am a huge social justice advocate who realizes that I am a person of color who will face discrimination and this could affect my future. I am also aware that this is no excuse to not get invovled and keep fighting for social justice. I am a member of various organizations where i am able to fight fir under privlegded groups in this country. I serve as a very actuve volunteer for The Mu Crew, which is an organiztion made by the AIDs Resource Center. I also serve as an active member of Wight States Rainbow Alliance. Along with those grups i am apart of the black student union and black men on the move. I am very proud of all my identies which include a Black Bisexual Christian Man. I wouldnt have it anyother way. Why you ask? Because i get the chance to get invovled with things like campus pride and the other organizations I listed. Being able to blog about my Experiences on my campus as aprt of the GLBT community and as a person of color is very exciting to me because i beleiv everyone has stories, and trust me i have a lot to tell. Things happen to me everydya and being able to blog about them here is very excited because there are really good things, and really bad things that others should know about. So I look forward to shoring and i hope you all learn something from me as i blog for this site. Peace out!

ROAR! That is WELCOME in Lion speak.

I am Cris the Campus Pride Mascot. I joined the Campus Pride family during the 2007 Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp. Camp 2009 is happening right now! You can follow us on all the happenings right here on the blog. Though I am there with them the Pride Leaders will be doing the reporting from the field, so be sure to give them support by reading their posts and commenting on them! ROAR! GO CAMP!

So right now you may be asking yourself why does Campus Pride have a mascot and secondly why is it a Lion. Well, I have a story for that! We all have stories, right? It all started when the Campus Pride staff put out a call for a Mascot. Here is the posting the staff posted on a mascot job site in 2007:

Campus Pride is looking for a very outgoing, positive, and visionary Mascot. This Mascot will be the symbol of what Campus Pride is and needs to go both inside and outside the organization, as well as be able to embody all of the LGBT Communities through the work you will do. This Mascot must also believe and follow the Campus Pride Values:

• Utilizing the diverse talents of student leaders.
• Giving students a voice and action in leadership.
• Empowering student leaders for positive change in society.
• Building stronger LGBT and Ally communities on college campuses.
• Celebrating and recognizing diversity.

The responsibilities for this position include:

• Serve on the leadership team to ensure all staff members follow and live up to the values of Campus Pride. (listed above)
• Represent Campus Pride at all events, conferences, etc that Campus Pride officially attends.

Well, I tend to not be very great at these introduction things, so hopefully I come off at least mildly interesting. Or enough of a train wreck that you want to come back and read my blog to see what happens. Either way works for me as long as you come back. So, from the beginning…

My name is Stefan (pronounced like Stephanie without the –ie), and I am from Kansas – the Kansas City area, to be more precise. I’m a 23 year-old student at the University of Kansas studying sociology. I grew up in suburbia surrounded by “perfect” suburban families – the good WASP-y types with a mom, dad, 2.5 children, a golden retriever, and a perfectly manicured lawn. I was the kid who lived across the street from the perfectly manicured lawn in an apartment with my mom and older brother. As you might imagine, a healthy dose of disdain mixed with jealousy for the WASP lifestyle colored my formative years. That was my life for 18 years. Fast forward…