“It was easy to talk to people at the summit, and I made new friends. It was a unifying experience. Somehow everyone cheering and clapping and talking together made it feel like we were truly one unified body of students.”

Joa Grober, senior 

“I feel like the summit was a great celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, and was accepting towards all members of the community. However, the experience could have different for a closeted member of the community, I attended the Advocacy and Activism session, and found that to be incredibly inspiring. It felt like the students’ voice were being heard, which was really great. Overall a good experience!”

Esther Orlov-Mayer, junior

“I think overall the summit was pretty good. This being my first summit, I wasn’t really sure what to expect and if the purpose of the summit was to just have a day of appreciation and love then it exceeded its goals. I think I was somewhat expecting to learn something so as the summit continued, and I didn’t learn anything. I was disappointed. Although it might’ve just been a personal thing, I’m an unique case, so I’m sure someone learned something and absolutely loved it.”

Charles Taylor, senior

“Before this year, I’d never attended the summit. Regardless, I felt welcomed and experienced palpable empathy. There is something distinctly powerful about getting to engage in self love and celebration while also having constructive conversations and making concrete action towards increasing visibility, advocacy and activism for our LGBTQ+ community at ETHS.”

Emmacate Sauer, senior

“The Summit was a meaningful and fun experience for me because I was able to be open about who I am, and I felt like everyone was super loving and totally able to express themselves. I had the opportunity to be courageous enough to share my sexuality with everyone around me because of all the supportive vibe and community feeling.”

Bithiah John, senior

“I honestly had a really good time. It’s always really nice to get to hang around your folks. There *was* that weird dichotomy though of being around white gays and being around queer poc [People of Color], especially after being at the poc panel, and the difference in like culture and experiences. But, also I just got to spend time with my friends and chill and all and unless I paid express attention to it, it was kinda negligible? Though, during the afternoon advocacy session it did kinda feel like some [white] voices where talking for and over others. It was also interesting because a lot of the issues that people brought up and wanted to advocate for [improvements with wellness, PE classes, locker rooms, bathrooms] have been attempted by other queer students before or are currently being talked by GSA…I love how much the summits have been getting students increasingly more involved. I also just adore the fact that the drag queen (and the king!) keep coming in year after year to perform for a bunch of high schoolers…I love that a lot of the workshops were made with care and though.”

Karina Rodriguez, senior

Gallery • 8 Photos

Trinity Collins

E. Patrick Johnson, keynote speaker, addresses summit participants.