A TRAILBLAZING Stratford College student is celebrating being named a finalist in the Activist of the Year category of the Stratford Youth Town Council Awards.
Tyler Tomlinson, from Henley, was nominated as a finalist for his activism work, both in the community and at college, and was presented with a certificate from Stratford’s Mayor Coun Gill Cleeve.
The 17-year-old, who is studying on the Level 2 Art and Design course, has been working with Sam Bansal, Student Enrichment Officer, at the college on a whole range of projects.
Tyler is a member of the Pride Club, he has been assisting running open events to engage other students with enrichment activities, and has supported events like the LGTBQ History Month event by creating displays and even running a Trans Awareness event.
Tyler said: “I felt honoured to be able to make positive change. I want to help others to have a mindset where they feel they can make a change too.
“There are a lot of bad stereotypes and misinformation which I want to make better. Homophobia is a social construct and I want to change people’s perceptions and make it safe for people to walk around being exactly who they are.”
Sam was pleased that Tyler’s work, especially his creation of the Trans Awareness event, was recognised.
She said: “Tyler is one of our amazing student reps who created the Trans Awareness event from scratch. Tyler created all the trans visibility resources and got ideas from Pride Club members so that the focus was really on what students wanted to see. He dedicated a lot of time and effort into making the event fun and a real celebration of what trans people are doing within the trans community.
“It is really important for students to get involved in activism. They have a lot of lived experiences on many different things going on in the world right now that we should be listening to and encouraging them to talk about to make positive change. It is great to see Tyler doing just that.”
