The most successful GSBA Scholarship Dinner ever!

Celebrating 25 years

Reaching two million dollars in scholarships awarded since 1990

Presenting $350,000 to 48 outstanding students

Raising a record $200,000

 

It all made for a truly amazing evening!  We heard stories from our  scholarship Founders and early champions in a moving video created by InterChange Media (included below). We brought this visionary group on stage for Michael Auch to present the Richard C. Rolfs Scholarship and Bob Dlugosh & Don McKee to present the Founders' scholarships. Mayor Ed Murray welcomed our guests and touchingly reminded us of other early scholarship champions who have passed. During the evening, we were saddened to hear of the continuing challenges of poverty, violence, and lack of family support which so many of our scholars face. Our keynote address, given by GSBA's first four-year Scholar, Laramie Smith, was incredible. Laramie shared the story of her journey, from being disowned by her family as a teenager, leaving her with no hope of being able to attend college, to the difference that four years of scholarship support from GSBA meant to her, knowing she had the backing of an entire community. Today Laramie has a PhD and just last week was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. There was not a dry eye in the room when Scholarship Chair Stephanie Dallas came on stage with an impassioned plea that opened our hearts and compelled us to give generously.

Thank you to all of our table captains who brought wonderful guests to fill the room at the Waterfront Marriott. Chaired by Allan Aquila and Scholarship Dinner volunteers Ryan Digges and Steve Gunn and our Scholarship Fund staff led by Mark Rosén and Jessica Wootten, we were able to create an evening that powerfully connected our past to our future. Other highlights of the evening included two announcements from Board Chair Martha Davis: the first about the launching a new Leadership Matching Fund, and the exciting news that GSBA has committed to fund every returning undergraduate scholar. With your continued support, both of these commitments will make a huge difference in the lives of LGBTQ and allied students.

How wonderful it was to hear about the scholars who received our named scholarships this year. Bob Rhodehamel & Dana Snyder presented a Future Ribbons Scholarship to Kelly Hill who is pursuing her graduate degree in AIDS Research; Glenn Johnson & Michael Melancon presented the Bright Horizon Scholarship to Jazmine Perez; and Linda Barzalai spoke eloquently and poignantly about the "still small voice" inside all of us and how this voice honors the memory of her son David. The connection between past and future was everywhere; with past scholars seated around the room, including past Chester Podlodowski Scholars at Tina's table. A wonderful video with four past scholars -- Ryan, Arianna, Morgan, and Linda -- talked about the impact receiving a scholarship had on their lives, which made us all reach for the tissues. Kent and Shay Thoelke shared connections they have made with their new scholars demonstrating the joy and fulfillment their family has gotten by establishing a scholarship in memory of their father and husband, Rich Thoelke.

A very special thank you to PwC, our Title Sponsor, and RBC Wealth Management, our presenting sponsor, as well as our evening's sponsors: Alaska Airlines, Carter Subaru, Microsoft and Seattle Goodwill. Thank you also to Team Photogenic for capturing the evening through photographs, Girlie Press for all the print collateral, and to FunFrames Photo for adding a bit more fun. Big thanks also to the Marriott Waterfront for all the support they gave to this event and to Janiece Haug for her donation of wine.

Demonstrating their continued support of the GSBA Scholarship Fund, our annual sponsors were well represented, including our Jewels, the businesses which invest in both the Chamber and the Scholarship Fund. Our Diamond Jewel Sponsor: Microsoft; Emerald Jewels: 1st Security Bank and Alaska Airlines; Ruby Jewels: PwC and RBC Wealth Management. And our Annual Sponsors: Platinum: US Bank;  Gold sponsors: American Family Insurance, Outerwall, Pacific Medical Centers and Wells Fargo; Silver sponsors: Boeing, Carter Subaru, Safeco, Liberty Mutual, Seattle Goodwill, Starbucks and UW Medicine; and, our Bronze sponsors: Argosy Cruises, Carpet Liquidators, CenturyLink, DML Insurance, Google, Group Health, Irons Brothers Construction, Mona Smith, Attorney at Law, Overlake Reproductive Health, Verity Credit Union, Vulcan and Whitepages. We are so grateful for all their support.

Also, how exciting to see so many guests ready to sign up as table captains for our over-the-top Scholarship fundraising gala, the TASTE of GSBA on November 21, 2015. Given, this event has sold out for the past four years, it is a good reminder to reserve your TASTE table now.

If you were unable to attend this powerfully moving 25th Anniversary Scholarship Dinner celebration, it's not too late to join the celebration and invest in the next generation of leaders by making a donation online today. If you are already a donor, we hope you'll consider giving another 25% this year, in recognition of our 25 years of supporting the education of our students.

 

For the future,

 

Louise Chernin

President & CEO 

25 Years of Investments: Dr. Laramie Smith

For 25 years, GSBA has invested in the hearts and minds of LGBTQ and allied students. Join us as we award $350,000 to 48 of the brightest in Washington State. Meet these inspiring students and support them along their journey at the 2015 GSBA Scholarship Dinner on May 15 at the Seattle Waterfront Marriott. If you are unable to attend the Dinner, consider sponsoring a scholar at the Dinner with a donation of $150 or more. On this 25^th Anniversary we will celebrate investing over $2 million dollars in 350 leaders. Please read more about our featured alumni speaker, Laramie Smith. She, and the many other alumni scholars, will be on hand to share their successes with you.

In 1999, Laramie Smith had lost her determination to go to college. She wondered what college would look like, how she would get there, how she could pay for it and what doors it could open. “They were mysteries I couldn't even begin to comprehend. I just knew I could do better with my life,” remembers the Lacey native. As she was looking into her options, Laramie applied for and received a GSBA scholarship. “I found myself without parents who could embody unconditional love and support, but I was suddenly and unexpectedly embraced by the LGBTQ community.”

Fast-forward 15 years: Laramie R. Smith, PhD, is a behavioral health scientist whose research is devoted to the prevention and treatment needs of HIV-affected and medically underserved communities.

Laramie received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in American cultural studies from Western Washington University. She worked on the Centers for Disease Control’s National HIV/AIDS Behavioral Surveillance study in conjunction with the Seattle–King County Department of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS Program, examining the intersection of substance use and housing vulnerabilities among adolescent and adult populations at the University of Washington.

Laramie defending her dissertation.

She earned her doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut. During her doctoral training, she received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health to develop and evaluate a theory-based approach to retention in HIV care in the Bronx. Through a complementary line of research, Laramie continues to investigate mechanisms through which HIV, drug use and methadone maintenance-related stigmas disrupt individuals’ prevention and treatment behaviors.

She worked at the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) on a large project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. As an extension of this trial, she integrated her work in HIV care with her investigation and support of the needs of newly diagnosed patients who were not yet eligible for antiretroviral therapy.

Laramie is currently a postdoctoral fellow at University of California San Diego School of Medicine’s Division of Global Public Health. Her research interests include infectious disease prevention, treatment and care; health disparities; medically vulnerable and underserved populations; LGBTQ health; health behavior theory; intervention development and evaluation; and structural equation modeling.

As the first GSBA scholar to receive four years of consecutive funding, Laramie gained just as much, if not more, from the knowledge that an entire community believed in her ability to thrive and provide leadership in the face of adversity. “This personal connection gave me strength and resolve to attain my education and invest my efforts back into in the health of the LGBTQ and other marginalized communities,” she says. “This support is more than I could have ever expected when I opened my first scholarship award letter in 1999. It has laid a solid foundation from which I continue to approach life's challenges and value my successes.”

GSBA Scholarship Founders' Breakfast

Recently we had the opportunity to gather a few of the visionary early members responsible for establishing the GSBA Scholarship Fund 25 years ago. The creators and benefactors of our Founders’ Scholarship, Bob Dlugosh and Don McKee, opened their lovely home for us on a Saturday morning. We heard stories of the first scholarships and talked about the vision and hopes for the future of the Fund. We heard from Rita Smith, who continues to volunteer as a scholarship interviewer, about the need for the scholarship at a time when it was highly risky for a young person to come out in high school. There were no available LGBT options for assistance in attending college and many of our early scholars faced the challenges of having zero support from family or community. Recognizing that need was the impetus to create the Scholarship Fund.

We heard how that continues to be a need today and the importance of the Fund in helping fill that need.  Michael Auch shared the significance of the first large bequest to the Fund from the estate of Richard C Rolfs. This was the first major gift of its kind locally and as such it “represented the LGBT community taking pride in itself in a way that had not happened before and therefore opened the door for more giving.”

Everyone spoke of their pride in having helped create something that they did not imagine could grow to give out its two-millionth dollar and to help support so many future leaders in such a significant way. Perhaps the most wonderful moment came when founder Dave Brown encouraged us all to “think about a time in the future when the Fund is $100 million.” Visionary then, and visionary now!