Name: Niro Sherzad + May Edelstein

Social Justice Group: LGBTQ+ Youth and Mental Health (C)

Date of Fieldwork: January 8, 2025

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Ty Beauchamp

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

On Wednesday, January 8th, we met with Ty Beauchamp, the school counselor at LREI. Ty has been with the school for over three years and primarily works with the high school students. During our conversation, one of the first topics he brought up was the impact of social media. He described it as a “double-edged sword” — while it can be a valuable tool for connecting with others, it can also be a platform for cyberbullying and harmful behavior, including homophobia. Ty also discussed the differences in how schools support LGBTQ+ students. He pointed out that more traditional schools often fail to provide the same level of sanctuary or community for queer teens as LREI does. According to him, all teenagers need to grow up in environments that are free from toxicity, but many queer teens in traditional schools lack this, which can significantly affect their mental health in the long run.