When nonbinary student Kenzie Brant came to Wichita State to study aerospace engineering, they came to the same realization that many students like them do: the majority of STEM students seem to be straight men. Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (oSTEM) is one national organization trying to help queer STEM students find their place among peers.
Brant, an inaugural member and president of the group at WSU, explained how having “classmates (who) are generally going to be cishet men” can be alienating for queer students. So, they started the chapter of the group on campus during their sophomore year.
“I remember going to my adviser and just saying, ‘I don’t feel like I have a space,’” Brant said. “‘I feel like there are two separate parts of me — my engineer identity and then my queer identity — and it just feels like I don’t really belong anywhere right now.’”
The adviser asked Brant if they had heard of oSTEM, a social group for LGBTQ+ students in STEM, which immediately intrigued Brant.
“When she was explaining (oSTEM), I just remember sitting there like, ‘This sounds cool. This sounds interesting, and I want to see this done,’” Brant said.
oSTEM Vice President Bri Pfeifer described the club’s intended purpose as a sanctuary for queer students with shared interests.
“It is a safe space for students to find like-minded individuals who are in similar academic fields, and have similar identities to kind of form those bonds and feel less alone on campus,” Pfeifer said.
Pfeifer, who uses she/they pronouns and identifies as an asexual lesbian, enjoys having a group of people who understand her.
“I didn’t have a lot of friends in the community in high school because I was still kind of figuring out who I was,” Pfeifer said. “It’s been really good to have made those connections with people on campus who understand me, who don’t think it’s weird.”
The group’s meetings generally involve some sort of activity or game. Sometimes, these are STEM-related activities, like making paper airplanes and foil boats. However, more often than not, the activities are designed to help students decompress and connect with one another. Past events have included video games, crafting with Perler beads, origami and more.
According to Brant, the group has also worked with other LGBTQ+ and engineering-focused campus groups to create inclusive events that allow students to relax in a safe space.
“We have collaborated in the past with Spectrum (LGBTQ & Allies) and some other engineering organizations for an end-of-the-year organization party, just sort of to relax and let some steam off and just have some fun,” Brant said. “One of my main jobs is just like (making) connections and keeping people connected as much as I can.”
oSTEM member Sadie Frye enjoys the calm environment of meetings.
“The atmosphere is very positive, very chill,” Frye said. “It’s smaller than Spectrum, and it’s also a little chiller than Spectrum because Spectrum can get loud and a little chaotic sometimes.”
Anyone is welcome to join the group, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation or major, and Brant wants oSTEM to create a sense of community.
“It’s difficult to get through STEM majors,” Brant said. “It doesn’t need to be any harder by feeling like you’re the odd one out for being weird. And so I genuinely hope that people have gotten something like that out of this.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the group can attend meetings every other Wednesday in the Rhatigan Student Center when classes are in session or visit its page on ShockerSync. The group can also be found on Instagram @wsu_ostem.
