This past Saturday marked the first ever LGBT Ball on Hopkins campus. The event, which drew over a hundred attendees, was envisioned by the newly formed GLBT Grad Student Association and put on in conjunction with Diverse Sexuality And Gender Alliance (DSAGA), JHMI’s Gertrude Stein Society and the Peabody Gay-Straight Alliance.
Tommy Tong, president of the GLBT Grad Student Association, spoke about what gave him the idea. “The GLBT Grad group is new on campus, and though we’re grad students, we’re still close in age and have similar interests with all the other schools here. We talked a little bit about setting up a Hopkins-wide ball, and we got a response from the grad students,” he said.
Tong talked about the unique opportunity for a networking event like this at Hopkins. “Here at Hopkins, we’re near all these other schools. Peabody, the medical school, and of course the undergraduates. So we wanted to do some sort of networking event.” And a ball seemed like the perfect idea to the group.
After they decided on a ball, the preparations began. Tong addressed intense planning that went into the event. “We applied for a grant at the beginning of the semester, and it took about a month to actually get the funding. And reserving the room was a hassle, so it took a while to plan it.”
But, all that planning was worth it. “The event ended up being in the Charles Commons Ballroom, which was really nice. We had a dance floor, a DJ, and really good food. And there were student performers from all the different groups doing a Drag lip sync, that was a lot of fun, too,” Tong said.
The night, which was designed as a networking event and mixer between the different Hopkins groups, was a success. “People were talking and socializing,” Tong said. “It was a good chance to bring everyone together at Hopkins and raise awareness about GLBT issues.”
The graduate students weren’t the only ones who had fun; the president of DSAGA, senior Patrick Armstrong, said he was pleased with the way the event turned out. “The grad students did most of the planning, but DSAGA contributed some funding, so it was a good collaborative event. And beyond that, it was a great mixer, and a good way to bring people together,” Armstrong said.
“The night featured a lot of fun things,” Armstrong continued. “Catered food, ice breakers, and there were lots of undergrads and grad students, and even some professors.” The highlight, though, was definitely the student performances according to Armstrong. “The drag performances were all really good!”
Both groups were so pleased with the outcome of the event that they’re already looking at continuing it in the future. “It’d be great of it became an annual event,” said Tong. “Since this first year was so successful, we’re already looking for ways to improve for next year.”
Armstrong, equally pleased with the event, was even bolder in his hopes for the future. “Based on the success, it could probably be an event we put on each semester.”
