This year's High Meadow Pride Month events brought students, parents, teachers, and special guests together to celebrate the contributions made by the LGBTQIA+ community and the pride of being and loving just as we are.
Pride Month has its roots in the June, 1969 Stonewall Riots, which followed a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan — a common manifestation of anti-gay discrimination at that time — and marks the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement. The first Gay Pride Parade was held one year later, an anniversary now celebrated around the world.
At High Meadow, our student GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance), LGBTQIA Families Alliance, teachers, and staff collaborated on a number of projects to mark Pride Month 2024. To start things off, the GSA helped organize participation in the New Paltz Pride March and Festival for the second year in a row.
Melissa Onstad, a founder of our LGBTQIA+ Families Alliance, coordinated button-making and sign-painting on campus, and produced a moving photography exhibit in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center.
"This project was a joy to create because it kept the students and their beliefs at the center," Melissa says. "Kids told me who they were, and they told me what they wanted to say. They even chose the photograph of them that would be displayed."
High Meadow also hosted an All-School Gathering organized by 1st grade teacher Bella Kosmacher, with performances by drag artist Katarina Mirage and singer, songwriter, and organizer callie mackenzie (also a High Meadow parent), who performed You Can Be You, a song written for Pride.
Thank you to everyone mentioned above, as well as GSA sponsor and 5th/6th humanities teacher Emily Aptekar, our school administators, and all of the volunteers and supporters who brought their vulnerability and joy to this month's work!
