A COLLEGE in Andover have been celebrating the start of Pride Month with a very special parade.

Throughout June, Sparsholt College Group (Including Andover College and University Centre Sparsholt) will celebrate lesbian, gay, bi, trans, non-binary and queer (LGBTQ+) culture and experiences with a series of activities and events kicked off with the inaugural Pride Parade on the Sparsholt College Campus in Winchester.

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Pride Month represents an opportunity for the Sparsholt College Group community to reflect on all the ways they can contribute to creating a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment for all LGBTQ+ students and employees.

Liz Wilson, assistant principal student experience, said: “We had such fun celebrating our inaugural Pride Parade on the Sparsholt Campus. For many young people, further and higher education is often the first place where they can be themselves and we are committed to promoting inclusion and equality among our students, staff and the wider SCG community.”

The parade was a great success and hosted a number of floats representing the different subject areas taught at Sparsholt College including animal management, foundation studies, arboriculture, land and wildlife, horticulture, sport and uniformed protective services, agriculture and equine studies all with a different creative theme and message.

After deliberations and extensive judging from a staff panel, the sport and uniformed protective services departments were declared overall winners. Their design celebrated the bravery of sporting athletes across a range of diverse sports within the LGBTQ+ community.

Second place was awarded to the foundation studies department, whose theme was ‘Love Has No Labels’. Their message was that while most people consider themselves unprejudiced, many of us unintentionally make snap judgments about people based on what they see—whether it’s race, age, gender, religion, sexuality, or disability.

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Third Place was awarded to the land and wildlife department. Students from the countryside team put a huge amount of work into this project and used their theme of nature, to convey the message that all genders and sexualities are natural and the link this has to the land and wildlife subjects. 

The day also included face painting, crafting, a plant sale and stalls from both the library promoting interesting literature and the students from the LGBTQ+ Society which provided useful resources on LGBTQ+ history and how to be a good ally.

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