On November 3rd, the University of Calgary Students Union opened Qcentre, their centre for sexual and gender diversity, and welcomed an influx of students and community members interested in the new space on campus.
Centrally located and easily accessible in MacEwan Hall, the Qcentre offers students a comfortable, quiet and secure space to study, learn or just hang out.
"The reception was amazing," says Qmunity program coordinator, Kris Schmidt of the roughly 100 students that were in attendance at the open house. The afternoon launch saw major news outlets CTV and the Calgary Herald cover the event, as well as numerous appearances by representatives of the University of Calgary administration.
"The Qcentre started as a student initiative over the summer," says Schmidt. "We now have 22 volunteers," of which, several are members of the allied community or new-to-the-University students.
All of the volunteers have been trained through the U of C counseling centre in peer support and crisis management. Volunteers are onsite and available in the Qcentre from 9:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday, to listen, counsel, provide appropriate literature or redirect students to the appropriate resources.
Schmidt says the Qcentre is evolving as a resource-based initiative – a "powerful community galvanization" – rather than taking on a socio-political objective. In fact, the Qcentre was based largely on the University’s Women’s Resource Centre.
"We really encourage students who haven’t, to come check it out," Schmidt says.
In addition to providing students a resource asset and space, Qmunity also partnered last month with the Students’ Union, U of C and NUTV to film It Gets Better, an eclectic montage of interviews and prepared statements from a host of participants.
It Gets Better was filmed over November on location at the U of C, with an aim to illustrate to LGBTQ youth "what their lives might be like as openly gay adults."
"We really hope that this turns into a viral project – a media experiment," Schmidt says. "We’re leaving it open to students to update and leave comments, and put up their own videos."
The production will be released online sometime this month. More details can be found on the It Gets Better Facebook page or on the Students’ Union website.
"We’re hoping this is the kick-start to the project, rather than the finalized project itself," Schmidt says.
Qmuinty will also be supporting the encore showing of the Coming Out Monologues, slated to re-premiere in March, 2011.
After Christmas the Qcentre will be holding a winter semester volunteer drive, to which any interested students are more than welcome.
"We’re always happy to see new students," Schmidt says. "[The Qcentre] is a valuable opportunity for volunteers as much as it is for the visitors."