Hosts Richard Ziegelasch and Patrick Campion welcomed eighty guests to their waterfront home in East Hampton on Saturday, August 11th in celebration of Point Foundation (PF), the country’s largest scholarship granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit.
Guests including Susie and Jacques Malignon, Andrea Travaglia, Michael Patrick and Will Cromley, listened as board member Jorge Valencia introduced recent scholarship recipient Harper Rubin.
Rubin told the crowd that though he was scared about coming out, “I took a risk I opened up and took the support being offered to me because I could sense the safety net that Point provides”.
Thanking his mentor, he said, “I am using the lessons that FP has taught me about trust, community, and support.” Now applying to PhD programs, he said, “My particular focus is on holding educational institutions responsible for the fundamental needs their students have that aren’t being met at home.”
Peter Lichtenhal, a Co-Vice Chair, who serves as a one-on-one mentor, said, “This is an amazing organization with contributions to scholars that go beyond the financial and into the support system. PF provides scholarship, mentorship, and leadership training.”
About mentoring he said, “It gives me great joy to see a student with something inside that’s not emerging and watching them gain confidence and stature, and become who they want to be. It’s beyond anything that you can imagine.”
Pam Barbey, mentor to scholarship winner Vanessa Watson, said, “Every one of these students is not only talented and bright, they are also wonderful examples to the world. We need people who can lead. And represent diversity.” She added, “Otherwise our world is never going to expand.”
Attendees included Patrick Campion, Kurtis Giehl, Jody Cuckler and Brett Simon, Khushboo Panjwani, Jackie, Tamar and Whit Quinn, Zoe Ridolfi-Starr, Emily Taylor and Peter, Matt, Oksana, and Turbo Barbey.
