Three students chosen to receive LGBTQ equality scholarships

The Utah Pride Center, Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, and Equality Utah joined together for a third year distribute scholarships for students seeking higher education to advance LGBTQ causes.

One student is awarded a $3,000 cash scholarship and two students a $1,000 scholarship. They are awarded based on student achievements in activism, leadership, learning, or volunteerism.

Phelps, who regularly donates to state LGBT charities, said that she got the idea for the scholarship when she realized the stress students were under “trying to further their education, work, and pay for school.”

“I was a B and C student but fortunate enough to have resources to pay for my education,” she said. “With our current [presidential] administration, I think it’s more important than ever to fight for equality, whether that is by an LGBTQ student or as an ally.”

This year, according to Mindy Young of Equality Utah, 65 students applied for the scholarships.

“There were just so many awesome applicants we couldn’t [easily]narrow it down,” Young said. “The three who were chosen were

all super dynamic in their interviews and have all done a lot of important work in our community.”

The $3,000 scholarship was awarded to SALVADOR OREGON-TORRES, who has worked with many parts of the Utah Pride Center over the past several years, including organizing Queer Prom and MasQueerade, the gendeRevolution and B+ conferences, and cultural competency training. He also worked with Comunidades Unidas, a non-profit organization that works to enrich the Latinx Community. He is attending Utah Valley University in the Political Science Department.

AUBRIANA SLAUGHTER won a $1,000 scholarship. She has worked at the University of Utah Women’s Resource Center and earned the Salt Lake Rotary’s Service Above Self Award. She is a Social Work major at the University of Utah.

AUSTIN MILLER won the other $1,000 scholarship. He was Assistant Executive Director for Ogden OUTreach and has volunteered for Equality Utah. He also hosts a podcast that highlights queer art and music. He is in the Nursing Program at Salt Lake Community College.