Stratford-upon Avon College celebrated International Transgender Day of Visibility this year; celebrating Transgender people around the globe and the courage it takes to live openly and authentically.
The Student Enrichment Team and the Pride Club engaged with students and staff during the day by involving them in activities and handing out a range of material.
Preparation began a week previously during a Craftivism session, where students could take part in making badges and painting tote bags that were then given out and displayed at the Transgender Day of Visibility event.
The students got stuck in and created a whole range of items including badges and tote bags
The event itself took place in the College’s reception and aimed to engage with staff and students as they came into the building. There were leaflets which gave information about International Transgender Day of Visibility, about the Trans Pride Flag, about being Transgender as well what an Ally is and what that means.
There was also an activity where people had to identify different Transgender celebrities and learn about what they have done for the Transgender community.
Student Enrichment Officer, Sam Bansal, commented: “It is so important to ensure Transgender students feel visible at college. It is a celebration! And we are handing out pronoun badges as we had feedback from students saying they wanted their pronouns visible. So, they can have these badges to attach to their lanyards.”
Students engaged with the activity, took badges and enjoyed bags of sweets for taking part!
The event was a complete success. Students from all subjects stopped and engaged with the activities and collected pronoun and Pride badges.
Performing Arts student, Elyssa Hazelton, detailed why she believed it was important for events like this to take place: “It’s good as people don’t talk enough about Trans issues due to it being considered controversial so it needs to be normalised.”
