Joel Armstrong

Joel’s an amazing young man on a mission. He’s passionate about media & has enrolled in the AUT Bachelor of Communications. He wants to use his skills to represent the LGBTQI+ community & make positive change.

The Trust was impressed with his openness & tenacity, Joel came out as a gay man at only 14, saying that it was the scariest thing he’d ever done, but was determined to do it. He was very involved with Green Bay High School’s Peer Support Sexuality Programme (PSSP) and Sexuality & Gender Acceptance Group (SAGA). He also helped organised the school’s first PRIDE Week, it was packed with events every day including a PRIDE parade & was a great success.

Joel was also a school Student Leader, a member of the Positive Behaviour For Learning group, organised charity events & fundraisers, and played on the school basketball team. He also speaks Japanese, and won a study scholarship to Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Japan for three months last year.

The Tertiary Scholarship programme is the Trust’s flag-ship initiative, giving extraordinary young rainbow students the recognition they deserve, & assisting with funding to begin University life.