Meet Jay! Jay is a 3rd year student here at UWEC and a first-generation student! They are majoring in Social Work and have a certificate in WGSS! With Jay’s degree they are pursuing, they hope to work in mental health with queer youth to be able to be an advocate and help give them tools they may not have yet gained. They also want to be able to give them the safe, comfortable, and trusting space the vast majority queer youth do not receive. With that being said, they have been an advocate for a long time in their life! Since coming out in middle school, queer rights, and human rights in general, have been an important value in Jay’s life. In high school, Jay helped start a GSA in their high school, they helped with student lead protesting for BLM, MMIWG2S, the overturn of Roe v Wade, and advocating for queer rights! Since coming to UWEC, Jay has been involved with the student organization PRIDE and goes to their events frequently!

In Jay’s free time though, you can find them snuggled up inside with their cat, Ham Sandwich, doing lots of crafts! Whether it’s crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, making friendship bracelets, making jewelry, painting, etc. If it’s a craft, Jay is probably doing it! You can also find Jay outdoors a great deal! When the weather permits, you can find Jay hiking, foraging, kayaking, and even hammocking!

For this experience of Q-Fest, Jay is extremely ecstatic to be able to take a deep dive into queer culture, and really be able to learn more about their queer identity and the queer history that has brought the queer community so far today!

Picture This: Here’s Jay after spending a day with Emily, Chris, and Kallie at the Japanese Tea Gardens! Them and Emily ventured off to find this cute rose garden, where Jay got this photo captured, before going to the Vogue theatre to see Extremely Unique Dynamic!