Fall 2024
Veritas et Arcus Iris
A Note from Rainbow Alumni Leadership: Why Volunteering Matters
This past year the volunteers of the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni accomplished a lot. In June and July, our devoted alumni set up five new Ren-Gay-Vous Pride events around the country; two new funds for a scholarship and an internship met the threshold to become officially endowed; our Discord conversations and online events continued to grow; and our membership more than doubled (to nearly 400).
We’re also conducting our first membership survey–if you have a few minutes, please fill it out. This will help us understand who our members are along with your interests. This is your chance to provide input without an ongoing commitment.
At its heart, GRA is about our volunteers and giving back to the college that gave us so much. This fall, college staff implemented one of the opportunities most requested by Rainbow Alumni: mentoring current LGBTQIA+ students. MentorGrinnell, a structured, six-session program, allows direct conversation between GRA member-volunteers and young LGBTQIA+ Grinnellians eager for your insight, advice, and guidance. Not sure it’s for you? See the article below for more information. So far more than 28 GRA members have stepped up from across the decades and professions, helping to shape future generations eager to connect.
For now, the efforts of the Rainbow Alumni are only limited by the number of volunteers who join us, and the skills they bring to the table. In addition to the mentorship program, there are still opportunities to help with events, outreach, communications, fundraising, and more. Whether you have only a few hours at a specific time of year to help out or can make a regular once-a-month commitment, there’s a place for you here. What better way is there to help improve the Grinnell experience even by just a bit, and benefit a student in need–and perhaps yourself–along the way?
In solidarity,
Phoebe Lostroh ‘94 (plostroh@gmail.com)
Rick Rose ‘88 (rick.rose@yahoo.com)
Co-Chairs, Grinnell Rainbow Alumni
On behalf of the entire Steering Committee
National Coming Out Day: Open-Mic Coming Out Series
Celebrate National Coming Out Day with the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni at our Open-Mic Coming Out Stories Zoom night. Listen in, or share the fun and toss your name into the hat to share your own coming out story with other Grinnellians. You will have up to five minutes to share your coming out story, whether the story took place at Grinnell or not, we look forward to hearing more about your journey through life at and after Grinnell.
When: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, 7 p.m.
RSVP by Wednesday, Oct. 09 by registering online here.
Zoom connection information will be included in the event registration confirmation email.
Grinnell Rainbow Alumni Membership Survey Launched
In an effort to understand our dramatically growing membership, the Rainbow Alumni Steering Committee has launched its first confidential GRA Membership Survey. We hope these results will help us understand our over 400 members’ backgrounds, experiences, and interests. Beyond demographic and professional information, this is your chance to share feedback on community involvement; your own Grinnell experiences (whether good or bad); our fundraising efforts; your experiences since graduation; and where you think we should focus our efforts. We also hope to better understand where and how to reach out to groups unrepresented or underrepresented among our volunteers and programming. All responses are anonymous (unless you provide contact information in any feedback).
Please take a moment to provide your important feedback, so we can understand who we’re made up of and where our organization can better focus. Your participation will be much appreciated.
MentorGrinnell: Matching LGBTQIA+ Alumni and Students
Have you thought about mentoring a current Grinnell student, but didn’t know how? The Office of Development and Alumni Relations has launched MentorGrinnell, an online platform providing an opportunity for you to be matched with a current Grinnell student based on your career interest, unique skills, and profession.
Whether you’re a recent graduate, mid-way through your career, or enjoying your retirement, your insight and advice will be invaluable to current students. Members of Grinnell Rainbow Alumni can be matched specifically with students who have requested a fellow LGBTQIA+ community member; dozens of students and alumni have already done so. Registration is on a rolling basis–apply when you can!
Starting in September, this structured, six-session experience allows you to schedule sessions based on your availability, customize agendas, notes, and checklists, and monitor your mentorship progress. The MentorGrinnell Help Center assists mentors and mentees navigate their mentorship from beginning to end; and Sarah Smith-Benanti, Associate Director of Alumni and Donor Relations, will gladly answer any questions you have along the way.
Why Participate as a Mentor?
- Make a difference in the lives of LGBTQIA+ students eager to learn from your experiences.
- Share valuable insights and guide students on their paths.
- Connect with LGBTQIA+ students and help them achieve their goals.
- Help LGBTQIA+ students expand their networks and career opportunities.
- No experience is required; resources and personalized agendas are provided.
Ready to sign up now?
Use this registration link–specifically for GRA members–to set up your profile and get the process started.
Update: First 2024 Ren-Gay-Vous Pride Events Around the Country
June and July of this year found GRA members having a great time at our premiere Ren-Gay-Vous Pride events in Chicago, Washington DC, Des Moines, the Twin Cities, and even Grinnell. A special thanks goes to Conner Stanfield ‘14 for launching this project, one of our main organizational goals.
These cities are just the beginning: If you had a great time at a 2024 Ren-Gay-Vous, or are interested in hosting a future RGV event in your hometown, the Events Committee would love to hear from you. Please contact Sarah Smith-Bernanti at smithben@grinnell.edu, whether you can help out only for this one time of year or would like to help with events year-round.
Here are just a few highlights from Ren-Gay-Vous around the country.
Top row: Twin Cities (l), Des Moines (r); bottom row: Washington, DC (l); Chicago (r)
Meet A Staff Member
If you’ve worked on any LGBTQIA+ project at Grinnell, volunteered with the Rainbow Alumni, or even come to a reunion, you’ve likely met Sarah Smith-Benanti, associate director of alumni and donor relations for diverse communities. Sarah is the front-line contact and biggest cheerleader for Grinnell Rainbow Alumni. In fact, without Sarah’s efforts, it’s unlikely GRA would have gotten off the ground. As additional affinity groups get their start, we thought our members would like to get to know the person who makes administrative magic happen at Grinnell College.
Sarah, thanks for agreeing to be our first Grinnell staff member to be interviewed for this newsletter. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, and what’s your educational background? I grew up in Springfield, Ill., and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I received my B.S. in Natural Resource and Environmental Science. I went to graduate school at Utah State University and studied the quaking aspen tree. My first summer collecting data in the wilds of Utah and Colorado, I realized I liked girls. I ran a soil microbiology lab at USU until I switched career fields and went into student affairs at Vanderbilt University, then the University of Oregon, and now I’m here in alumni relations at Grinnell College.
What was the overall atmosphere like where you studied? Were you involved in any campus organizations or support networks at the time? After coming out in grad school, I became highly involved with the Pride Alliance student organization. Being a queer activist in rural Utah in the early 2000s was challenging, to say the least, but coalition building was quite easy due to having a common foe, the Mormon Church. I helped establish an LGBT resource center at Utah State University, started an allies training program, and pushed to get the first student support professional hired to run the center. This person became my wife years later.
How did you land at Grinnell College?
I was a trailing spouse [to Maure Smith-Benanti, Asst. VP of Student Affairs & Dean of Inclusive Initiatives]. At the University of Oregon, my wife had a graduate student who is a Grinnellian from the class of 2011. This Grinnellian told Maure about a job opportunity at Grinnell and I thought to myself, I never planned to move back to the Midwest, but it would be nice to be closer to my family. Happily, I found my home in DAR with the opportunity to plan the first Multicultural Reunion in 2017.
How have you and your family found life in the town of Grinnell? We never thought small town life was for us, but we’ve been here almost eight years now, so maybe it is. We still deeply miss living in or near a city, but having everything nearby is very helpful with a 9 and almost-5 year old.
A lot of alumni like to think of Grinnell as unique–and at least in Iowa, it is. Is there anything that jumps out to you about Grinnell or Grinnellians that you weren’t expecting? I worked at Vanderbilt University, as the first program coordinator in the Office of LGBTQIA Life, so I thought I knew what it would be like to be back at a private institution, but a small liberal arts college is very different. My favorite thing about Grinnellians is how they question everything and deeply try to understand things.
I know you’ve recently been promoted to associate director. What does your work encompass now? What are the best things about interacting with alumni? Any annoying bits? I’ve wanted to create identity-based affinity groups since I started, but the work is not about what I want; it is about what the alumni want. I always say to the volunteers, “I did not graduate from Grinnell, so I am here to facilitate whatever program or event you want to do.” Multicultural Reunion is the signature event I work on and I’m excited to expand the work into creating more affinity groups. My favorite part of my job is listening to alumni stories and how this place means so much to each of you. I think one of the most annoying things for any volunteer manager is folks not doing what they say they are going to do, especially when they do not communicate that they can no longer fulfill their commitment.
How would you describe your identity on the LGBTIA+ spectrum during your time at Grinnell? Has it changed over time? There are so many things to love about being queer because we know our identities are fluid and we get to explore all the aspects of ourselves that we want to. When Maure and I moved to Grinnell our first child was only 14 months old, so “mom” has been my most salient identity at the College. Since I first came out, I’ve always been out and proud at each of my jobs; it’s impossible for me not to talk about my wife and our kids.
Have you been involved in any LGBTQ+ organizations since arriving at Grinnell? I understand you helped found Grinnell’s Queer Employee Resource Group (QERG). How’s that going? When we got to Grinnell, I expected the rainbow carpet to be rolled out and get an invitation to the next potluck. Sadly, that never happened like it did at other universities we’d worked at. I did not want to have that happened to other LGBTQIA+ employees, so I finally got the go-ahead to start an ERG last year after bugging Human Resources for six years. The great thing about waiting is that the co-leaders get a small stipend and the organization has a budget from the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Our number one priority is to build community and second we want to make the College an excellent place for LGBTQIA+ people to work by creating new policies.
Obviously you work primarily with alumni, but you’re much closer to queer students and student organizations than is almost any alum. What advice would you give to recent LGBTQIA+ graduates from Grinnell? Grinnell puts a lot of pressure on students, graduates, and alums to change the world, so my advice is to focus on the little things that are in your control. Each heart and mind you connect to and share your story with, slowly creates change. Also, failure is always an option and where we learn the most.
How do you hope your work and contributions to the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni as an affinity group will continue to shape the future of Grinnell? What other affinity groups are around the corner? The number one goal of affinity groups is to build community, so I hope the Rainbow Alumni help to continue to grow and expand the incredible alumni network. Conexiones is currently doing a social media campaign on Instagram celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and introducing themselves as an affinity group for Latine alumni. There is also an affinity group forming for Black alumni.
You can contact Sarah at smithben@grinnell.edu.
Update: Reunion 2024 Drag Show Fundraiser
Fundraiser for the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund
Six-hundred alumni saw amazing performers from the classes of 2014, ‘17, ‘18 and ‘19 strut their stuff at the Reunion 2024 Drag Show, held in the Harris Center Concert Hall, and they absolutely loved it. In person donations totaled $1,606; after the event, 210 online donors stepped up with an amazing $11,976, for a total of $13,582. All the funds went directly to the Rainbow Alumni Scholarship Fund, allowing it to begin distribution a full year earlier than expected.
Still interested in supporting the Rainbow Alumni Scholarship Fund or the Rainbow Alumni Internship Fund? It’s as easy as clicking here, and selecting the fund of your choice in the “Make your selection…” box. Additional questions? Contact Sarah Smith-Bernanti.
Check out our LinkedIn page
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14483590/
- Find a career connection
- Discuss work issues related to your identity
- Bounce ideas off alumni from across the generations
- Grow your professional network
Save the date: Reunion 2025, May 29-June 1
- 70th Reunion: 1955
- 60th Reunion: 1965-66
- 50th Reunion: 1975
- 40th Reunion: 1984-85
- 35th Reunion: 1989-90-91
- 25th Reunion: 2000
- 15th Reunion: 2009-10-11
- 10th Reunion: 2015
What You can do Right now
Looking for ways to get involved with Rainbow Alumni and help Grinnell? Here are a few suggestions:
- Forward this email to a friend! Know someone who should get this newsletter and join the Rainbow Alumni? Forward it to them to help us spread the word.
- Volunteer! Have some fun and make new friends with Grinnellians from across the decades! Take the volunteer survey here. Committees looking for participants include Networking and Storytelling; Events; Outreach; Communications; and Fundraising.
- Donate to support students! We are currently focused on fully funding the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni Internship Fund. Use the pull-down menu to support the fund of your choice. Also–think of us during Scarlet and Give Back Day!! Type “Rainbow” in the ‘Make your selection(s)’ box on the donation webpage.
- Come to our next event. Reconnect to Grinnellians in your area or online. Regional events will take place during Pride Month in your area. Stay tuned for more information.
- Did a friend forward this email to you? Sign up as a member of the Grinnell Rainbow Alumni by submitting your email address here.