Announcing Six LGBTQ Student Trailblazers: 2024 Markowski-Leach Scholarship Winners

I am beyond honored to be a Markowski-Leach Scholarship recipient to support my undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. In facilitating my pursuit of my degree, this scholarship will allow me to eventually pursue a PhD in biochemistry. As a gay woman, I am passionate about improving queer visibility in academia. It means the world to me to have found queer community at Cal; I want to pay forward the sense of belonging and inclusivity that I have experienced here.

As a student, I am passionate about using research to improve the lives of others: drug development, renewable energy development, and agricultural development are all areas of research I have explored in my time at Berkeley, and all represent areas of research I could eventually pursue. This scholarship represents the combination of these two passions.

I am currently working on the Global Climate Initiative team at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, where I focus on movement building and forest conservation across the US South, Canada, and Indonesia. I have lived in San Francisco for three years, but I grew up in South Carolina–after graduating from the College of Charleston in 2018, I moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to work for a reproductive rights organization. This move was a significant step in my career, allowing me to engage deeply with social issues and the global development space. While in Omaha, I was part of the Huespring Scholars cohort, a mentorship initiative for early-career LGBTQIA+

professionals. This was a highly formative experience for me, as it provided invaluable support and connections with other queer professionals for the first time in my own professional career. This experience is one of many reasons that I am so excited to be selected for the Markowski-Leach Scholarship, and I am honored to join a cohort of passionate and driven LGBTQIA+ individuals. This fall, I am heading to Stanford to pursue a Masters of Science in Design. Through this program, I will focus on building tools and systems that better fund grassroots movements, with a particular interest in designing for those working in climate justice and LGBTQIA+ rights. My goal is to use design as a means to empower and support these movements, creating sustainable and impactful solutions. This next step in my education and career is driven by a deep commitment to justice, and a desire to bring more joy and resilience into the world.

My name is Keiron Durant, originally from the island of Trinidad and Tobago. This fall, I will be embarking on an exciting journey to pursue my MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. My goal is to transition into consulting, leveraging my engineering background and experience to drive impactful change in the business world.

Before this next chapter, I spent six years as a process engineer with LANXESS, a global specialty chemicals company. In this role, I managed daily operations and led process improvement projects, enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of our facilities.

Receiving the Markowski-Leach Scholarship holds profound significance for me. Beyond the invaluable financial assistance, this scholarship embodies the mission and vision of supporting LGBTQ+ individuals in their educational pursuits. Growing up gay in Trinidad presented numerous challenges, but migrating to the United States for college allowed me to find a more accepting environment. Despite this, I faced difficulties in funding my education, securing employment as an immigrant, and navigating the socio-cultural backlash from my home country.

Through the unwavering support of my LGBTQ+ family in the U.S. and organizations like the Markowski-Leach Scholarship Fund, I have been able to embrace my authentic self and live my truth. This scholarship empowers me to continue my journey and reinforces my commitment to giving back. My long-term goal is to support LGBTQ+ students from developing countries who face significant financial and social hurdles, helping them pursue their education and create better lives for themselves.

Braxton holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, a B.S. in Neuroscience, and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University. As an undergraduate student, he worked to establish and run the undergraduate Out in STEM club at Brown (oSTEM@Brown). During his graduate studies, he continued supporting this club while co-chairing the graduate chapter. oSTEM is an international organization that provides resources and mentorship to LGBTQ+ students and professionals in STEM fields. Through this work, he organized panel discussions on mentorship, job searches, and being out at work. His efforts led to oSTEM hosting over a dozen speakers, including physicians who shared insights on trans health research and data analytics with the Brown community. To further promote inclusivity, Braxton organized collaborations with other affinity groups and featured speakers advocating for people who are LGBTQ+, POC, and/or have disabilities in STEM. He planned more than thirty socials, sponsored conference attendance, and ran anti-harassment campaigns.

Outside his LGBTQ+ advocacy work, Braxton spent two years studying the neural circuits of pain, four years studying breast and ovarian cancer, and a gap year studying ME/CFS and Long COVID. He is starting his first year of medical school at UCSF in 2024. There, he aims to continue conducting research and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community.

My name is Patrick Skehan and I will be pursuing a MBA at Stanford University. Prior to my MBA, I obtained an undergraduate degree in Law and French from Trinity College Dublin and was a visiting fellow at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris.

During my time at the Ecole Normale, I launched a non-profit dedicated to youth mental health, Nightline France. Beginning with the deployment of listening services run by students, for students, the areas of Nightline’s work gradually expanded to include suicide prevention programs on college/high school campuses, online mental health tools, awareness campaigns as well as research and lobbying actions. Nightline France has grown to become the largest NGO dedicated to youth mental health in France.

My experiences as an LGBT person were essential in my motivation behind launching Nightline and a large number of the actions launched by us specifically aim to help struggling LGBT youth.

Thanks to the Markowski-Leach Scholarship, I hope to use my MBA at Stanford as an opportunity to further develop my skills and continue to launch mental health projects that positively impact the entirety of the LGBT community.

My name is Katelyn Jackson (she/her or they/them). I am an MBA candidate at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a resident of rural Northeast California.

Growing up in a conservative environment, I lost my career, friends, community, and faith when I came out as a lesbian. This led to a period of deep depression, but I found solace and healing in a community of queer individuals who had also faced rejection. Over five years, I delved into queer theology and deconstructed harmful theological systems.

Receiving the Markowski-Leach Scholarship is a significant milestone for me. It enables me to continue pursuing nonprofit leadership training in my MBA and advocating for LGBTQ+ youth, particularly in rural and conservative areas where support is crucial. My ambition is to lead by example, demonstrating that empathy, resilience, and diligent learning can transform communities and foster a world that celebrates diversity. My commitment is to create spaces where LGBTQ+ individuals can thrive, both spiritually and socially.