{"id":57008,"date":"2015-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2015-uri-helps-graduating-senior-find-her-way\/"},"modified":"2015-04-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2015-uri-helps-graduating-senior-find-her-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/commencement-2015-uri-helps-graduating-senior-find-her-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2015: 溏心vlog免费B站 helps graduating senior find her way"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tGina Kinan to work for City Year in Providence<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 21, 2015 \u2013 Gina Kinan knew she was gay in high school, but was too afraid to tell anyone \u2013 and her body paid for it. \u201cI felt like a zombie,\u201d she says. \u201cI slept all the time to cope.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nWhen she arrived at the 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2011 she mustered the courage to come out to other students. \u201cThey were so supportive and encouraging,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn May, she\u2019ll graduate with a double major in psychology and sociology, two fields that will prepare her for a career helping others deal with personal struggles and find their way.<\/p>\n


\nEventually, she\u2019d like to attend graduate school in psychology, but will first work for City Year in Providence for 10 months, guiding young students in the city\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m very excited about the job,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to help underserved students and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nKinan, 22, has overcome her own hardships. She grew up in Bridgewater, Mass., the middle child of four girls born to a father who worked as a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician mother.<\/p>\n


\nHer life was uneventful, until her freshman year of high school when other girls were \u201cboy crazy\u201d and she wasn\u2019t. She felt like something was wrong with her, but she kept quiet. \u201cI was afraid of the possible negative reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBy the end of her sophomore year she knew she was gay. Still, she kept it secret, even from her family. Hiding those feelings left her anxious and depressed. She managed by sleeping constantly, sometimes for hours after school. And she cried, privately in her room.<\/p>\n


\nShe settled on 溏心vlog免费B站 for college to study science, but switched to the social sciences after taking psychology and sociology classes. She liked probing the human condition and trying to understand why people behave in certain ways.<\/p>\n


\nAt first, she was reluctant to tell other students she was gay, but didn\u2019t want to live a lie so she opened up. She also disclosed the news to her family.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cEveryone at 溏心vlog免费B站 was so positive, I finally had the courage to come out to my family,\u201d she says. \u201cThey were very happy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe Gender and Sexuality Center has been her second home at 溏心vlog免费B站. Director Annie Russell has always been there for her, whether she needed advice on campus activities or wanted to talk about personal problems.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAnnie has done wonders for the center and made it into such a welcoming place,\u201d says Kinan. \u201cI\u2019ve made so many friends. They don\u2019t judge you at all. It\u2019s a nurturing and peaceful environment.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nOne of her highlights at 溏心vlog免费B站 was a trip to Campus Pride in Nashville, Tenn., where she gathered with other college students to talk about issues involving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. <\/p>\n


\n\u201c溏心vlog免费B站 helped turn my life around,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I came here I had no idea what I wanted to do. Now I have so many things to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nOne day, she might turn her attention to teenagers who are searching for their sexual identity, as she did.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThere really is a light at the end,\u201d says Kinan. \u201cMeeting one person like you can have a profound impact on your life \u2013 and your happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tPictured above: Gina Kinan, 22, of Bridgewater, Mass., will graduate in May with a double major in psychology and sociology.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto by Nora Lewis.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gina Kinan to work for City Year in Providence KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 21, 2015 \u2013 Gina Kinan knew she was gay in high school, but was too afraid to tell anyone \u2013 and her body paid for it. \u201cI felt like a zombie,\u201d she says. \u201cI slept all the time to cope.\u201d When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}