Twenty-two years ago, I helped start something at Keystone College that I honestly assumed would fade after I graduated.
OPEN began with a simple goal. A faculty advisor, another student, and I were just trying to create a sense of community in a world that often told us who we were was wrong. We wanted a space where students could find support, understanding, and the reassurance that they weren’t alone.
OPEN, an acronym for Opposing Prejudice and Ending Negativity, is Keystone College’s LGBTQIA+ and ally organization. The group was created to foster inclusion, encourage understanding, and ensure that every student has a safe and supportive community on campus.
What started as a small effort to build connection grew into something far more meaningful.
Twenty-two years later, OPEN is still here. In fact, it’s thriving! Over the years it has supported countless students and, in very real ways, helped save hundreds of lives. Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of what that small group of people helped start.
There‘s something fitting about this when you think about the Keystone College seal, which carries the words “Progress Through Effort.” At the time, we weren’t thinking about mottos or legacy. We were simply trying to make things a little better than we found them.
But progress rarely happens all at once. It happens through effort and small acts of courage. It happens through conversations that open minds and communities that refuse to let people stand alone. In many ways, OPEN became a living example of that idea. Progress through effort, one student, one conversation, and one act of support at a time.
OPEN exists for one simple reason. So that no student has to walk that journey alone.
To everyone who helped build and sustain this organization over the years. The founders, student leaders, members, allies, and faculty supporters. Thank you! What we created truly mattered.
And to the students carrying OPEN forward today, remember this. The work you’re doing matters. The conversations you start matter. The support you give one another matters.
Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for another person is simple. We make space, we listen, we stand beside them, and yes, pardon the pun, we keep the door OPEN.
Below is a video former members created in 2020 for OPEN’s 15th anniversary. Watching it now is a proud moment.