#carmelpride

These students in Indiana planned and hosted their city's own Pride festival!

Last year, we awarded $500,000 in grants to schools across the U.S. for student-led projects that support LGBTQ+ youth through our 50 States, 50 Grants, 5,000 Voices initiative. Just over a year later, we wanted to show off how their projects turned out to y'all:

This school in Carmel, Indiana used their grant funds to host the city's official Pride festival, Carmel Pride, with concerts, food trucks, vendors, and more to bring the local community together!

We asked student Marielle what was most surprising about creating the event:

"How many adults were willing to step up and help us. During the beginning of our planning, we asked if there were any adults able to assist us with finances and logistics. Over 20 adults showed up to support us and offer their help and advice. We didn’t expect much support from adults and it’s very heartwarming to know how many supportive adults are out there."

And whether or not it made students at the school feel more supported:

"Yes! While Carmel Pride is open for everyone to attend, there was a large amount of teenagers at the festival. Being surrounded by your community is an indescribable feeling. Outside of the festival, we see students wearing Carmel Pride pins on their backpacks and our shirts to school. It makes me really proud that students feel comfortable enough to openly express themselves like that at school."

And we asked teacher Caitlyn what the reaction was from the community:

"Largely positive. The people who attended our event had great things to say and were very happy with their experience. A lot of people have expressed how proud they are that people so young are doing something so big, and that's an amazing thing to hear after working so hard on this. However, our local Moms for Liberty group had issues with our drag performances which they posted about on their Facebook. They also had issues with the fact that a school club received a grant for this, questioning the legitimacy of the ways we were using the grant, for a community event and not a strictly school related thing. While there will always be some people who are upset by what we’re doing, its important to remember who we’re doing this for and why. The community we cater to is happy with what we’ve done and so are we, that's all that matters." 💜