In April 2020, the TGIF Committee voted to establish a $5,000 recurring scholarship in honor of Brian for his contributions to environmental sustainability at UC Berkeley. The SERQueer Scholarship was renewed and increased to $10,000 in May 2023 through 2026. The name SERQueer comes from the group that Brian and other SERC alumni created in 2018, a group they described as “a community space for queer students working on environmental sustainability & justice." $2,000 scholarships will be awarded to five students selected by the SERQueer Scholarship Review Committee.
About the Scholarship
Scholarship Goals
-
Honor the life of Brian Gialketsis and his commitment to building radically inclusive social and environmental justice spaces on the Berkeley campus
-
Financially support queer-identifying students working in and passionate about the environmental field at UC Berkeley
-
Re-envision what a community scholarship can look like by eliminating barriers to entry and focusing on healing, joy, and growth rather than traumas
Applying to the Scholarship
Our Fall 2023 SERQueer scholarship will be one round this year. One Google Form Application is due October 27, 2023 at 11:59 PM PST. You can view the essay prompts below. The Brian Gialketsis SERQueer Scholarship Review Committee will review all applications and recipients will be notified by RRR Week.
Eligibility
-
Registered UC Berkeley student (both undergraduate and graduate)
-
Queer Identifying
-
Passionate about Environmentalism (this does not have to be your field of study)
-
Any student who meets these criteria is welcome to apply. This includes undocumented, formerly incarcerated, and reentry students, among others.
Prompts
The SERQueer Review Committee would like to reiterate that we HIGHLY ENCOURAGE the applicant to only share what they are comfortable with for the application review. In the spirit of this program, we ask that applicants utilize the questions as an opportunity to express their own experiences with joy and hope.
Please feel free to copy/paste previous works into the essay questions (if material is relevant to the question).
Please limit your responses to 2,500 characters (~500 words) per question.
Question 1
Brian is remembered by his laughter, echoing through rooms and inviting others to join. Tell us about someone that invites laughter into your life.
Question 2
What would a queer and/or environmentally just world look like for you? How does that vision feel?
Question 3
“self care is an act of resilience. this is something i’ve learned and continue to learn the hard way in a myriad of settings and stories of my life. our identities matter, and our ability to cross cultural lines, particularly when it pushes us into uncomfortable circumstances, allows us to grow and thrive.” - Brian Gialketsis
How will this scholarship allow you to practice self-care that brings you joy and rest?