Sandra Árnadóttir's Story With the GSA.
Sandra Árnadóttir's Story With the GSA.
Sandra lived in Iceland for the first years of her life, where she felt safe and accepted for who she was in her community.
Sandra realized she was queer two months before her big move to Budapest, Hungary, when she was 15 years old. Moving to a country that is not accepting of the queer community or its rights made it incredibly stressful for Sandra to transition to. She stated that she doesn't want people to feel the same fear and estrangement that she did when coming to terms with the new country's societal norms. As we delve into a new world with new social norms, many countries have yet to accept the fact that love is love and not everyone identifies under the two dominant gender pronouns.
From day one, Sandra wanted a safe space in our international school where people can be open about who they are on the inside and not fear adults hunting them down for not being "normal." What does "normal" even mean anymore? We are all different, and we should all be accepting of each other's identities. Sandra was invited to participate in a pride event with an association of private schools in Central and Eastern Europe. She traveled to Prague, where she learned from many workshops and lessons on inclusion and pride. After learning so much about the importance of inclusivity in a school, Sandra began advocating for the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club. She was never the one to use her voice, but she realized if she wanted to change this community, she would have to. Edutopia found that students that are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community were three times more likely to be bullied by their peers. This can lead to devastating side effects such as severe depression and anxiety. To make this difference, she had to speak at assemblies and organize meetings with practically every school principal position. Not everyone she ran her ideas by agreed with her, but she could push through with her thoughts and form the club.
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance is a club at the American International School of Budapest that promotes an inclusive space where anyone with any identity can come to share what they believe in and be a part of a community. The GSA club is known worldwide as The Gay and Straight Alliance, but Sandra chose to change into something more inclusive to all identities. The GSA publishes newsletters on certain current events stemming around gender and sexuality to spread awareness about the issues and the significant accomplishments.
It is hard to recognize when you are in school, but syllabus' all over the world are not as inclusive as they should be. The GSA is working on educating more teachers on the importance of complete immersion syllabus' and news. The GSA also educates members in the community about using people's preferred pronouns. It is always a reminder for teachers to have people state their pronouns to be aware of what they should use to identify someone with. Another action the GSA has taken is the pride stickers on classroom doors. Sandra has recently graduated and is now working in the elementary building, and she wants to ensure that the spaces that the future generation learns in are accepting of who they are. The whole GSA team has invited teachers to place the pride flag sticker on their door to note that they are inclusive to all genders and sexualities. This makes our community a place where students feel comfortable being who they genuinely are and want to share it with the world.
I want to thank Sandra for making so much positive change in our school community. She is a light in our world and has used so much passion and drive towards the things she loves. Her groundwork will impact our community and all who are a part of it for years to come.
See you next week!
-Ruby
Sources:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-struggle-support-lgbtq-students
What a tremendous impact this will have for many! I like the dual acronyms for GSA for inclusivity. As always, your choice in visuals is spot on. It took me right back to my visit to Iceland in 2019 where I have pictures of walking on rainbow painted cobblestones leading to a blue church in Seydisfjordur (eastern Iceland).
Great writing and great choice of subject Ruby!