I’m plagued with worries about losing my scholarship, not being drafted, and having nowhere to go after I graduate. What if my food scholarship runs out? What if I fail my exam? All the what-ifs that never go away.
I know that I’m queer; I’m just not sure where inside me is the right fit. I identify as a male, but the other things…? Thinking about them makes my chest tight. It’s overwhelming. A little scary.
Lunch is delivered, and we remain in the conference room to eat. Everyone is still talking about Kendrick’s last statement excitedly. My eyes continue to meet his, and I can’t stop thinking about how tragic it is that most of the student body doesn’tknow this man and everything he’s done for us. All the things he continues to do for us. The amazing things he still wants to do.
“Man, I wish I could see RDU for myself,” Einar says with a sigh.
There’s a lot of agreement around the table. As I’m chewing, an idea hits me. After swallowing, I say, “It would be kind of neat if we had an exchange program to help establish the relationship we’re working toward. þórðargleði University could send some students in their second and third years to us, and they can see what RDU is all about firsthand and bring it back here. And RDU could send some students in their third and fourth years to help establish different parts of the program. Everyone is a part of CAP, so there’s maybe some training or something. But that also gives us the opportunity to know our sister school intimately, you know?”
Silence meets my remark. Everyone looks at me. My heart races. That was a stupid idea, wasn’t it? I feel my skin flush as I turn my eyes to meet Kendrick’s. He’s watching me with the same almost startled expression as everyone else.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat and am startled when Jerome says, “That’s amazing, Brevan, yes!”
The table gets loud as everyone talks excitedly about the possibilities of setting it up, and I’m left staring at everyone wide-eyed.
“It could be offered as a study abroad and exchange program combined,” Wendy says excitedly. “I don’t know what tuition is here, but besides airfare, it must be pretty close to a wash, right? So, there shouldn’t need to be any additional charges.”
“Room and board,” one of the þórðargleði students points out.
“There are scholarships for that. It can be worked into tuition for a semester,” Wendy says, waving it off.
“We’ve talked about families within the communities sponsoring a student,” Miss Ito muses. “But haven’t had a need for it. This might be that need.”
“Wendy’s right, though,” Dr. Weaver says. “I think tuition is pretty similar between the two schools. That’s something we looked at early on.”
“It’s already going to be part of the ambassador program, right?” Xile says. “Which means the pool of people who trade campuses are within a small pool, so I think any extra cost can just be built into the program.”
“Yes,” Anna says excitedly. “This isn’t simply studying abroad. This has a different purpose. Yes, we’re still taking courses and experiencing a different culture, but this has an additional purpose of building a stronger relationship between sister schools, especially while everyone moves toward the same goals. It’s about promoting togetherness. A queer togetherness network of schools and people.”
“Ohmygod,” Helgi says, and everyone looks at her. She’s practically bouncing in her seat. “Oh, I got it. The plan is for more sister schools, right? Not just between Rainbow Dorset and þórðargleði?”
“Correct,” Kendrick says.
“Earlier, we were talking about the limited course programs at þórðargleði University and the curricular difficulty of needing new students to support them and having the attractive programs to attract them.” Helgi waves her hand in the air. “What if we build an ‘à la carte’ degree program between all the sibling schools within the queer togetherness network? Maybe Rainbow Dorset offers a certain number of courses that can be checked off toward a specific degree, and then a university in Mexico has another few, and then a university in Scotland has another few. That will go a long way in attracting enrollment all over for everyone. It promotes togetherness, it exposes studentsto travel and different cultures, and it broadens the scope of what queer people all over the world face and how we’re working to make it better.”
“It’s not just seeing all these sibling schools listed together on a website telling us they offer safe, quality education to queer students, but it’s putting that partnership in action,” Wendy says.
“We should have gotten the students involved a long time ago,” Byndley says. She’s tapping away on her phone, maybe taking notes.
“These are all great ideas,” Dr. Albertson says enthusiastically. “I love everything about them.” He looks at Kendrick with a wide smile. “I think Helgi’s idea might need to wait a while as we build partners and get all the schools on board, but I think we can start figuring out how that would look and work now. Your Brevan’s idea, though.” He shakes his head, looking at me with a big, big grin. “Brilliant. Perfect. Why didn’t we think of that already?”
My cheeks heat. Kendrick is once again watching me with a smile. A smile that feels like it’s just between us, even though we’re surrounded by people. It makes warmth spread throughout my body.
Throughout lunch, we continue talking about what that would look like. I don’t speak much as I munch while I listen to everyone throwing out another reason why it’s such a fun idea.
Like the guy who wanted more access to sports. Visiting other schools in the Queer Together Network—an accidental title, but one that seems to have stuck as they continue talking. But within that network, there are going to be opportunities to practice and train with other schools’ athletic programs.
I wonder what he’d think about Coach Lemon. A smile splits my face as I think about it. One of my favorite things about games is the new students on other teams when they get a lookat our coach. He’s as opposite of the definition of what people think is ‘masculine enough’ to coach a full-contact sport such as football.
The way they stare at him in horror, fascination, and disdain is funny. They think he’s a joke. They don’t think it’s funny when we kick their asses. Nor when we have more NFL drafts each year, when they might not see one at all.
They still like to think that it’s proof that he shouldn’t be a coach because we don’t win championships. Yes, we’d love to win the College Football Playoffs Championship, but in the end, I’d much rather be drafted to a team than have the height of my career end with a college championship.
I look around the room and wonder what they’d think about Coach Frost. He’s a break in stereotypes if there’s ever been one. Then again, that can be said for all our teams, right? There’s a stupid stigma that queer people areless thanstraight people and therefore not good enough to play professional sports.
They’re wrong, and all RDU’s teams prove that every year. Every season. Every single game.
It would be so cool to have these guys come to RDU and bring back the same excitement and love we have for our campus. When we have more sister schools, word of RDU will spread all over the world.
