Springfield school board member Shurita Thomas-Tate was honored with the Kathryn J. Munzinger Advocate of the Year Award by PFLAG Springfield/SWMO at a reception April 21.
Thomas-Tate was among six nominees for the award, named for LGBTQIA+ advocate and volunteer Kathy Munzinger. Munzinger has served in many roles on the PFLAG Springfield/SWMO board and now serves as regional director for the Central Region of PFLAG chapters and the PFLAG National Board of Directors.
“We are so grateful for Kathy’s continued service to PFLAG and our greater community as well as the impact she has made and is making in cultivating a more inclusive world,” said Melisabeth Johnston, program and communication director of PFLAG Springfield/SWMO.
Thomas-Tate’s nomination pointed out that she was the only Springfield school board member to support the LGBTQIA+ community with an official statement of support for LGBTQIA+ students and staff. “She stood alone in this show of support for our community,” the nomination stated. And for this she “deserves to be publicly recognized for bravely doing the right thing by listening to our community and supporting our students, even when no one else had the courage to do so.”
Thomas-Tate is an associate professor in Missouri State University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, founder of Ujima, which offers free monthly literacy and language experiences for children, and is serving her second term on the Springfield school board.
Other nominees included Ashley Quinn, the Rev. Emily Bowen-Marler, Tammy Dixon, Kyler Sherman-Wilkins and Christi Lancaster.
The reception, which was held at Q Enoteca on Commercial Street, also included a celebration of PFLAG’s 2024 scholarship recipients. Each student received a $2,500 check to help with education expenses. The recipients are John Dove, a Missouri State University student pursuing a master’s degree in education; Gwendolyn Schwarz, who has been accepted to the University of Virginia’s media studies master’s program; and Tad Monnig, a graduate student in the master of international affairs program at MSU.
The PFLAG Springfield/SWMO Scholarship was created in 2018, developed from the scholarship program originally created by Springfield’s FOCUS after that organization dissolved, Johnston explained.
“The program has expanded since 2018, as it has more than doubled in size thanks to a considerable donation from Springfield Black Tie as well as generous donations from various individual donors,” she said. “We also have many more towns in SWMO participating, with applicants from across the region. This is made possible thanks to the many LGBTQ+ affirming counselors and teachers that passed along our information to help their students succeed.”
The applications for next year’s scholarship will be open in the fall and can be found at www.pflagswmo.org.
PFLAG also offers scholarships for LGBTQ+ people who have faced barriers to finish their high school education. The Jim House HISET Scholarship, in collaboration with The GLO Center, covers testing fees for the HISET (formerly the GED) as well as a small stipend for study materials, transportation, childcare, or other needs. Applications for that scholarship are rolling and also available on the website.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: School board’s Shurita Thomas-Tate is PFLAG ‘Advocate of the Year’