The Colorado Athletics Visibility Award is a $20,000 scholarship that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion through the power of sports. Each year two NCAA Intercollegiate scholar-athletes will be chosen to carry out their project idea that will advance LGBTQ+ inclusion, rights representation, and safety in sport. Recipients will be chosen based on the project proposals most equipped to create meaningful change for LGBTQ+ communities through the platforms of sport and academic work. Projects may seek to have schoolwide, local, national, or even global influence, but they must have meaningful impact. Applicants must exemplify remarkable leadership in their visibility as an athlete and a role model for the LGBTQ+ community.
Recipients who win the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award will receive a $20,000 scholarship for graduate school and related expenses within the University of Colorado system. To receive funding, scholar-athletes must complete their social impact project within one year of receiving the award, and be enrolled in a graduate program within the University of Colorado system, within one year of graduating their undergraduate program.
Colorado Athletics Visibility Award Vision Statement:
To elevate a world-class community of scholar-athletes who want to create meaningful positive change for LGBTQ+ people. CAVA is rooted in the power of knowledge, derived from scholarship and the visibility embodied in athletic platforms.
The Colorado Athletics Visibility Award was founded by
Nicholas Turco
and was created from the interest and efforts that the University of Colorado Boulder has put into understanding and supporting the experiences of their LGBTQ+ student-athletes.
Through the academic year of fall 2020 to spring 2021 Turco, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, launched a study in partnership with his advisor
Dr. Nancy Billica
(Political Science) into what the climate and culture is like for LGBTQ+ members in CU’s Athletic Department. This initiative was fully supported by athletic department leadership and gained meaningful response rates.
This study revealed numerous informative findings. For example, student-athletes may have a harder time being their authentic selves in the context of male-identified, revenue-generating sport communities. In addition, transgender student-athletes may still face a cold environment in the context of coming out and being comfortable in their sport. Therefore, we see the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award as a positive step in moving the cultural standard at CU to fully embody outspoken support and visibility for our LGBTQ+ members. Our goals are to bridge the gap between mere tolerance, and outward, visible acceptance and advocacy for LGBTQ+ athletes and to serve as a national leader on LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.
The Need for the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award
This scholarship leverages the platform and visibility of sport to reverse the long-standing impacts of prejudice and ignorance against LGBTQ+ people in sport and beyond. More specifically, the award is designed to create space, community, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ people in athletics, while at the same time allowing athletes to use their participation in sport to inspire inclusion for LGBTQ+ people everywhere.
Impact of Donating to the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award
By donating to the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award, you will be contributing to the education of scholar-athletes and assisting them as they work to affect meaningful change for and with the LGBTQ+ community.
What We Are Working on and How You Can Help
The current estimated one-year cost for University of Colorado Boulder students ranges from $29,372 to $58,586, depending on residency and the college, school, or program of study. We wish to fully support the education, ideas, and CU experience of student-athletes in every cohort so they may pour their passion, efforts, and creativity into their sport, studies, and projects. Our goal is to build an endowment which will provide full scholarship support to eight student-athletes each year, as cohorts move through the program.
I’m very excited to be named the Colorado Athletic Visibility Award recipient. My hope with this is to bring both my communities together with sports and LGBTQ+, and help raise awareness for younger generations so they don’t have to be afraid to be who they are.
Lex Kuehl
Lex Kuehl
Alexia “Lex” Kuehl, from St. Johns, Fla., a sophomore on the volleyball team, is a 2021 winner of the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award (CAVA). Lex is pursuing her degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, and is a member of the inaugural cohort of CAVA scholar-athletes.
Lex will focus her efforts on promoting awareness and inclusion for LGBTQ+ identities in local schools. She plans to work with LGBTQ+ role models to create an anti-bullying and inclusion video to be shared with area schools.
In the spirit of the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award, Lex will be collaborating with Evan Battey as well as her volleyball teammates.
Evan Battey, from Los Angeles, Calif., a senior on the men’s basketball team, is a 2021 winner of the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award (CAVA). Evan graduated in August 2021 as a Journalism major. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and is a member of the inaugural cohort of CAVA scholar-athletes.
Evan will focus his efforts on advancing LGBTQ+ inclusion and creating change for LGBTQ+ people in, “a community he loves,” CU Athletics. He would like to lay the groundwork for future award winners by launching a Colorado Athletics Visibility Award themed men’s basketball game. The purpose of this is to raise awareness and funds for future CAVA recipients to use for their projects.
I am proud to accept the scholarship because I think we need more proud allies in the community. It is incredibly important to me and the people around me that we must have basic understanding of LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance of them. I just want everybody to be comfortable being who they truly are.
Evan Battey
Requirements of the
Colorado Athletics Visibility
Award:
Applicants must
exemplify remarkable leadership and bravery in their visible effort to create inclusion for LGBTQ+ people in general and in sport specifically.
Colorado Athletics Visibility Award (CAVA) scholar-athletes’
projects must seek to impact the lives of LGBTQ+ people in a positive way.
CAVA scholar-athletes’
projects may support LGBTQ+ rights in athletics or outside of athletics, but they must use their power and platform as an athlete in their project to do so.
