By: Sarah Stone
On June 14th, from 11 am to 1 pm, I hosted my first Coffee Talk! Coffee Talk is a type of SSU event that is close to my heart. The Coffee Talks were an initiative introduced by Julia, the previous Vice President of Community Development. Julia was a friend and a mentor to me. When they worked as Vice President of Community Development, they supported me and pushed me to do the best that I can. I had the opportunity to help them earlier this year with a Sheridan Pride event that they hosted in April.
Did you stop by the Coffee Loft at TRC and enjoy our delicious rainbow cupcakes?
I wanted to carry on Julia’s initiative, and it was also important to me as a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community that this event was successful. I was always impressed by how much they contributed to the community in their role. At the Pride Coffee Talk Julia hosted in April, I was very touched to see the students interact with Julia. They were very supportive and welcoming, and the students seemed so comfortable coming to the talk. I wanted to continue this in my role.
I started planning my Pride Coffee Talk in May. Although I had some previous experience with hosting events while I was the SSU Clubs Coordinator at the Trafalgar campus, this was the first event I planned and hosted on my own in my new role as the VP of Advocacy!
What does pride mean to you? Check out the board in the SSU office at the Trafalgar campus and check what our Sheridan Community had to say.
This year at Sheridan, Pride was themed around the idea of sharing your story. I wanted to give Sheridan students the chance to share what Pride means to them. I bought a giant chalkboard to make a collage of notes written by students. I was very excited about this idea.
To me, Pride means celebrating yourself. It’s important to advocate for your needs as a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, as well as spend time with your loved ones. I was happy to see so many students participate and write what pride meant to them on the board. There’s such a wide range of meanings to Pride Month!
My goal for the rest of Pride is to get enough students to participate and completely fill the board! Students can come by the SSU office at TRC and ask the front desk if they can leave a note with what pride means to them for me—I’ll put it on the board!
SSU’s pride-themed stickers and buttons from Pride Coffee Talk!
I wasn’t sure how many students would come to the Pride Coffee Talk event. Not only was it the first event I’ve hosted, but it’s also during the summer term (when fewer students are on campus). I expected about 20 people to come, but the turnout ended up being 40 students! I ordered 30 Rainbow cupcakes—which were delicious, by the way—and we ran out of them! One thing I learned from hosting this event is that it’s better to have too many snacks than not enough!
The swag we gave out at the event was a mix of information resources and cool stuff like stickers, lanyards, and pride flags. Most of the stickers were taken by the end of the event, they went fast!
I am incredibly satisfied with how my first event as an SSU Vice President went. It was awesome to have the chance to hear directly from students about their experiences both as allies and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Seeing how many people came to this event was very touching, and I was surprised when 40 students came to my event! I didn’t expect that many students, but I was really happy to see all of them! These Coffee Talks provide students with the feeling of community, and it’s a great way to make friends! I hope to take what I’ve learned from this Coffee Talk to create more exciting intiatives involving Pride year round! Happy Pride everyone!