2004 POINT SCHOLARS

Matthew Vail

David DeNicolo and Stephen J. Ketterer Point Alumnus

Sarah Lawrence College

Matt Vail was born in Gresham, Oregon, where he grew up with his twin brother and younger sister. At age 16, he came out and co-founded his high school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance, sparking controversy on the local and national level and facing rejection from his family. In 2004, Matt graduated valedictorian and began his undergraduate education at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where he continues to pursue a degree in Liberal Arts, focusing primarily on Human Sexuality Studies, Education, and Spanish Language. In college, Matt has continued to be active in the LGBT community, acting as co-president of his school’s queer activist group, SLC Acts Up! Matt also spent the fall of 2006 in Havana, where he studied the effect of HIV/AIDS on the gay male community and presented his findings in Cuba and New York. Since leaving Oregon in 2004, Matt has reconciled with his parents and makes frequent visits home to visit his family. After Sarah Lawrence, Matt hopes to be able to find a way to combine his interests by studying Human Sexuality Education at the graduate level. He would ultimately like to pursue a career in social services or public education.