The door opens to a classroom filled with familiar faces strewn about, a warm and welcoming atmosphere permeates the surroundings. There are conversations being had as they catch up with each other, and open seats sprinkled around for members who have yet to arrive. It is the beginning of one of Central Kitsap High School Gender Sexuality Awareness’ club meetings.
“It’s nice to be able to talk about stuff and what we’re going through and it’s nice, having a community and making new friends is fun,” GSAs Social Media Manager Finley Koski said.
Early on in the school year, the GSA club used different methods to bring attention and support to themselves. It was also used as a mutual activity that everyone could participate in to encourage connection.
“We’ve been working on posters for more advertisement, and we’ve been talking about doing a craft fair to fundraise,” Koski said.
Currently the club has multiple other planned events, one of which being the fourth annual GSA jamboree on Jan. 16, which will be hosted by Central Kitsap High School’s GSA. Senior Zee Gemmer has been with the club since their freshman year, is the president of the club.
“In January we’re hosting the jamboree here at CK, we’re going to invite Olympic High School, Klahowya Secondary School, Bremerton high school, and a couple others,” Gemmer said. “We’ll get to show them CK, show them the Performing Arts Center, and get to meet all those other GSAs.”
But the Jamboree isn’t just about showing off CK, it is more so about building community and support with the GSAs of nearby schools, allowing for greater coordination between GSAs.
“We come together in fellowship, to share experiences, ideas and also to have fun,” the Advisor for GSA club Jennifer Rumpke said.
GSA club will also be participating in the upcoming Kitsap Youth Rally for Human Rights on March 25, 2025. It is at Olympic College; Bremerton campus, with this year’s host being South Kitsap High School.
“It’s a big event, like hundreds of students from all over the area all come together because they feel passionate about using their voices for equality and inclusion, and it’s a really, really cool event,” Gemmer said. “We get to meet each other; we get to walk around booths of different organizations. We get to go to separate breakout groups and listen to guest speakers and student presenters.”
During the youth rally they will be holding one of these breakout sessions. GSA clubs from different schools choose a different topic each year, but last year’s complications changed it up a little.
“Last year, they weren’t able to do a presentation because people came down with Covid, it was going to be about how to safely come out,” Rumpke said. “So I think we might be continuing to build on that idea.”
The GSA club has been organizing and participating in events for a while, with their biggest past event being the 2021-2022 school year national walkout.
“We organized a nationwide walk out in protest of these anti trans laws,” Gemmer said. “I think we had 44 different states participate, and a lot of high schools. I can’t remember the exact number, but a lot of high schools all walked out with signs with megaphones and student speakers, all protesting these anti trans laws. And it was a really, really beautiful experience.”
The idea for the walkout originated from CKHS’ GSA and was a national point of unity among schools. This message to make CKHS and the community a better place for LGBTQ+ youth and foster community is what GSA is all about.
“The idea of GSA is it’s open to everyone, like it is about inclusivity and acceptance and working for equity for everybody and the students who participate are just like everyone else,” Rumpke said. “They are your classmates, and they are just excited to be building a community that is supportive.”
