{"id":21747,"date":"2017-06-08T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T16:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=21747"},"modified":"2017-06-08T12:58:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T16:58:36","slug":"the-dru-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/the-dru-project\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Alumni Start &#8220;The Dru Project&#8221; in Honor of Pulse Victim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"story_feat_img\">\n<div style=\"width: 558px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/files\/2017\/06\/DP1-548x329.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"548\" height=\"329\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grossman, Leinonen and Guerrero<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"content\">\n<p>Two-time University of Central Florida psychology alumnus Christopher Andrew Leinonen, &#8217;07 &#8217;09MS,\u00a0known to most as \u201cDrew,\u201d lived and breathed having an impact on LGBTQ youth, hoping to equip them with education and empowerment.<\/p>\n<p>As a junior in high school, Drew received the Anne Frank Humanitarian Award from the Florida Holocaust Museum for taking initiative to establish his school\u2019s first Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).<\/p>\n<p>As a student at UCF, he was a safety net who inspired the people around him to be authentic and live freely.<\/p>\n<p>As a graduate with bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in psychology, he was working in his field, in love with his partner\u2013 UCF student Juan Ramon Guerrero\u2013 and at Pulse the morning of June 12, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>They were among the 49 taken that night, but Drew\u2019s hopes and strength are the backbone of The Dru Project, a non-profit established by his friends to honor his legacy.<\/p>\n<p>The Dru Project will equip GSAs at high schools with a curriculum that focuses on LGBTQ history and the fight for equality and acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dru Project is about our youth,\u201d said Shawn Chaudhry, the group\u2019s president and a two-time UCF alumnus who met Drew at UCF in 2004. \u201cIt\u2019s important for younger people in middle and high school who are just coming out of the closet and figuring out who they are to have a safe space, to know they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/files\/2017\/06\/DP2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-77754\" src=\"https:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/files\/2017\/06\/DP2-300x217.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"361\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The interactive course, designed by education and psychology Ph.D. students at UCF, will provide LGBTQ high schoolers and straight allies with an education intended to complement the inclusive social environment that GSAs provide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThirty-one states in the country do not have protections for gay and lesbian people. What kind of message does that send to our youth?\u201d said Sara Grossman, The Dru Project\u2019s communications director. \u201cHaving this kind of education start in high school is paramount to creating a landscape of empathy for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grossman, a 2007 grad, came to UCF from a small private high school with no GSA. She met Drew the first week of her freshman year during a meeting of UCF\u2019s LGBTQ student organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I finally got to UCF and felt like I was finally able to be myself, Drew was one of those people I connected with immediately,\u201d she said. \u201cHe had this spirit and way about him that was super infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drew was known for being friends with everyone and making everyone around him feel special. After his funeral, friends from different parts of his life\u2014including Chaudhry and Grossman\u2013 gathered at Drew\u2019s mom Christine\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<p>A GoFundMe account had been established to help raise money for funeral costs, and Christine suggested those friends instead take the money and use it to make Drew proud.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, the group secured the rights to <a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/thedruproject.org\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TheDruProject.org<\/a>\u2014 a tribute to Drew\u2019s social media handle\u2013 and soon after and began the 501(c)(3) process.<\/p>\n<p>The team behind The Dru Project includes Vice President Brandon Wolf, an LGBTQ activist and close friend, and Co-Founder and Treasurer Brittany Sted, a two-time UCF alumna who worked with Drew. Christine serves as board member emeritus.<\/p>\n<p>The Dru Project will hold a launch party and award its first $1,000 scholarship during an <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/1846629588909452\/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A%22%5b%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22page%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22page_upcoming_events_card%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A%5b%5d%7D%5d%22%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">event Sunday, June 11,<\/a> at the Abbey in downtown Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>The group plans to continue to raise money and offer more scholarships in higher amounts. For now, they\u2019re targeting the curriculum toward Central Florida high schools, but they hope that one day, The Dru Project will have an even larger impact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want The Dru Project to be a national organization, the parent group for all GSAs,\u201d Chaudhry said. \u201cWhen a high school wants to form a GSA, I want The Dru Project to be who they call.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As shattering as Drew\u2019s death has been, The Dru Project has been an important part of the healing process for those closest to him, Grossman said. \u00a0They didn\u2019t all know each other from the start, but now, they\u2019re family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrew was a very loving person, and we want this organization to be about love,\u201d Chaudhry said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Two-time University of Central Florida psychology alumnus Christopher Andrew Leinonen, &#8217;07 &#8217;09MS,\u00a0known to most as \u201cDrew,\u201d lived and breathed having an impact on LGBTQ youth, hoping to equip them with education and empowerment. As a junior in high school, Drew received the Anne Frank Humanitarian Award from the Florida Holocaust Museum for taking initiative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,38,13,22,28,29],"tags":[4757,4758,661,4756,4759],"class_list":["post-21747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-psychology-departments","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-brandon-wolf","tag-brittany-sted","tag-christopher-andrew-leinonen","tag-dru-project","tag-sara-grossman"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UCF Alumni Start &quot;The Dru Project&quot; in Honor of Pulse Victim - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/the-dru-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Alumni Start &quot;The Dru Project&quot; in Honor of Pulse Victim - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Two-time University of Central Florida psychology alumnus Christopher Andrew Leinonen, &#8217;07 &#8217;09MS,\u00a0known to most as \u201cDrew,\u201d lived and breathed having an impact on LGBTQ youth, hoping to equip them with education and empowerment. 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