That is why they believe Proud Academy would be a good fit, and so does Moss. "So, if you're getting bullied or know you're uncomfortable at school, you're not learning to your full capability." "Your brain shuts down in trauma, so you can't learn," Hopkins said. "Moss is resilient and intelligent and fun and sometimes I feel like it's hurting their spirit a little, to not be represented so well in school."ĭolores Hopkins said what happens in school can also impact learning itself. "You know, you go to mama bear mode, right? Like your first reaction is to just, 'I'm going to go into that school,' Jennifer Linden said. It is a distressing thing to hear for Moss' parents, Jennifer Linden and Dolores Hopkins. "Like I've been getting bullied and stuff." It's not, says 8th grader Moss Linden, who shared what it's like at their current school. "When I heard about this school, it just filled me with a lot of hope that maybe I could have the opportunity to help another young person not have to go through what I experienced as a kid - and I don't think my story is that unusual." "I had to endure a lot of harassment when I was a kid, especially in my younger years," Perry said. "It's amazing - from Kansas, from Massachusetts, Texas and Florida, as well," Nicolari said.ĭoug Perry currently teaches music at a nearby college and is looking to become the school's music teacher. It's an environment that has parents from other states already reaching out about Proud Academy - willing to move to Connecticut, so their child can attend. Another 67% reported experiencing anxiety, while more than half, 54%, reported depression. The survey found that 41% of them said they considered attempting suicide in the past year. Small towns are taking big steps to represent the LGBTQ+ community. Small towns lead a new wave of LGBTQ+ pride events They surveyed more than 28,000 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 and 24. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People. That's according to the suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project, which conducted the 2023 U.S. It comes as a new national survey finds teenagers who identify as LGBTQ+ are facing challenges to their mental health, in part, because of a growing number of anti-LGBTQ+ policies around the country. When it opens, Proud Academy will join a handful of other schools around the country geared towards LGBTQ+ students, including Harvey Milk High School, which first opened in New York City in the 1980s, along with more recent schools in Ohio, Wisconsin and Alabama. It's already furnished with tables and chairs. "We have a 10,000 square foot gymnasium, plus we get to use all of the equipment that's here. We have a music room upstairs that is just unbelievable," Nicolari said. So, we have all of this classroom space down here. It all eventually led Nicolari to start Proud Academy, with a planned fall opening for two dozen students in grades 7 and 8, inside a Boys & Girls Club building in Ansonia, Connecticut. Nicolari said when Ellen DeGeneres came out in the 1990s, she felt inspired to do the same. So, I can't imagine how my students are feeling." "And I thought, 'This is not okay.' I'm the adult and it's not feeling safe here. "Students would shout things, derogatory comments, and leave notes on my desk asking if I was gay, and scratching derogatory comments in my car," Nicolari said. Nicolari spent more than three decades in education as both a teacher and a principal. "Proud Academy will be Connecticut, and actually New England's first school for LGBTQ youth and their allies," said Patty Nicolari, founder of Proud Academy. Inside this century-old building, a new school is taking shape.
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