With graduation soon approaching, many seniors are looking back at how they spent their time in highschool.  There are many seniors who have been proactive in the community and in our school, but none quite like Campbell Royales.

Royales has been extremely active in the queer community at C-G.  When they first came to the school as a freshman, they were worried about finding a way to fit in (“they” is Royales’s preferred pronoun).  But as Royales would describe it, a group of queer kids absorbed them in.

Royales feels their greatest achievement in high school was getting the GSA officially recognized.

“I’ve affected a lot of kids,” they said.  “It’s something bigger than myself.”

Royales recalled putting up a fight that almost went legal just to get the GSA to be an official club at the school.  They believe that our school has made good progress since 2013 in acceptance and tolerance of the queer community.

“It’s not perfect,” Royales commented, but they know that C-G has come a long way.

The reason that Royales has been so active in the queer community is for two reasons: to educate our mostly conservative community and to make sure queer kids know they are not alone. Our own GSA consists of over 20 members.

“Our GSA is…the largest in the area,” Royales said.

Royales has always had the goal to make people feel comfortable with who they are.  Coming out as trans in high school was a big step for Royales, but a very necessary one for them.

“I’m the one setting a path,” they said.  This action was to show the LGBT community that “you just gotta do what is you.”

Royales has been a huge encouragement to kids in our community and they plan on continuing their work with LGBT awareness and rights.  They are excited for college, where they will have more resources to reach and inspire even more people.

For anyone who is still trying to figure out who they are, Royales leaves them with this advice:

“Be out.  Be obnoxious.  Be whatever you need to be.”