Hello DSST! My name is Helen Oliver, recipient of the 2021 Responsibility Award. I have worked at DSST Byers since 2014 and have seen our community grow in so many ways since then.

One of the things I am most proud of when it comes to working at Byers is our LGBTQ+ student and staff community. We are so fortunate to have so many students and staff consistently stepping forward to advocate for better representation and overall respect toward all members of the LGBTQ+ community.

As a history teacher, I am deeply inspired by students who voice that we should have better representation of LGBTQ+ experiences in our history curriculum. Some students do this through independent responses in their Peardecks, while others go so far as to testify in front of the Colorado Board of Education. As an educator, we have a responsibility to continue to support and learn from these students -- both the visible leaders and the ones championing others in their own ways -- by listening and elevating their voices and experiences.

That is why, this year, I've selected The Center on Colfax as an organization that represents doing the work that we all have a responsibility to do: supporting and being allies to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

We know that members of the LGBTQ+ community are under attack in our country, in our schools and in our own communities here in Colorado. The Center on Colfax stood out to me as a commendable organization for the work that they do supporting individuals of all ages, as well as educating and sharing resources for allies. Thank you for reading and I hope we all can learn a little from The Center, myself included.