Color, Cardboard, and Community: OSTEM Embraces Pride at UCF

Members of the oSTEM club at UCF collaborate to create a unique, vibrant Pride float out of recycled materials in the Psychology Building on Tuesday.

Aryah Britt

Disney music blared in the background as laughter and singing filled the room, while students huddled around a table scattered with cardboard, duct tape and Monster cans in the Psychology Building Tuesday night at oSTEM’s “Create Your Pride Float” event.  

The club, oSTEM, is a nonprofit organization that empowers the LGBTQ+ community in STEM to learn how to be more professional. This club offers a welcoming space for students at UCF to be themselves without criticism. 

“oSTEM is a safe space for people getting into professionalism, whether it is learning how to publicly speak, having workshops with companies or just creating a community where you feel safe and make friends,” said oSTEM’s treasurer. 

Pride was the theme, and everyone showed off their innovative skills. Using recycled materials was neither the cleanest nor the easiest thing to do. 

“I just like throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks,” said Kian Purcell, oSTEM’s social media coordinator and senior biology major in animal science. “It gets messy, but that’s the fun part; it ends up being something that shows a little piece of all of us.”

The floats depicted all colors of the rainbow and symbolized the meaning of pride. Incorporating STEM into this activity made it all the more exciting. 

“We wanted to include the environmental aspect,” the club’s treasurer said. “Some of our members work in conservation, so connecting pride with taking care of the planet just made sense.” 

Transforming discarded materials into art turned sustainability into a celebration. For oSTEM, it was all about the colors. Floats were vibrant and loud, and that is exactly what the members brought to their floats. 

“We just wanted to make it as colorful and flamboyant as possible,” Purcell said. “I think we nailed it.” 

For Brandyn Lugo, a junior biomedical science major and secretary for the oSTEM, the best part came from seeing his peers ideas merge into one creative vison. 

“Seeing everyone’s creativity come together in an engineering-focused way was the most exciting part,” Lugo said. 

Beyond the crafts, oSTEM hopes to embrace more LGBTQ+ students in STEM. Outreach coordinator Nick Coker, a Junior biology major, knows how difficult it can be for queer and trans students in STEM to get help and guidance. 

“It is about having a space where everyone can fully be themselves while pursuing their passion for science,” Lugo said. “This event perfectly captured how we express queer joy and identity, while using innovation to build community and celebrate diversity.” 

As the night wrapped up, with supper glue stuck on members fingers, cans on the floor and markers scattered around the room, students complimented details of each other’s work. The members smiling leaving the room, demonstrated how important it is to connect and represent pride in STEM.Â