Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition, a statewide LGBT youth organization, recently elected a number of new leaders. At its Fall Convening last month at Penn State University, the group chose Jared Scharf as the convener of its Coordinating Committee. Scharf, a junior at Gannon University, will replace outgoing convener Kevin McKeon, who was elected in April. The organization revamped its Coordinating Committee structure over the summer, transitioning from a panel of school representatives to two liaisons from each of nine identified regions within the state. The tenure for leaders was also extended from six-month terms to a one-year term. Indiana University of Pennsylvania junior Faith Elmes was re-elected as assistant convener, and the PSEC board of directors also gained four new members — Mike Campbell, Chris Moran-Brock, Lia Koziell and Carolyn Pandolfo. Scharf, 20, is a native of Erie. He is studying theology at Gannon, where he is also involved in the student group Love is for Everyone, which explores the intersectionality of sexuality and spirituality. Scharf became active in PSEC about nine months ago. He said his belief in the organization’s mission motivated him to take on the leadership role. “When I was given the opportunity to step up into this role, I was very humbled but also extremely excited to give back to a cause that has given back to so many other people,” he said. “It’s so inspiring what youth can do. And I want to be a part of that effort.” Scharf said he’s looking forward to helping the diverse LGBT youth movement across the Keystone State and beyond. “I want to foster a sense of community in our movement and in our state,” he said. “Faith and I talked between the election and now about how we do so much work in advocacy but we sometimes forget who we’re doing advocacy with. So I want to recreate a sense of community in our youth leaders around the system so that, as we work to change the systems that are in place, we also change ourselves and create a system where we love each other, we’re friends with each other and together we’re making Pennsylvania a better place to live for LGBT people.” Elmes said Scharf’s personality will be a good fit for that goal. “Jared brings an insane amount of enthusiasm to everything that he does,” she said. “So I’m looking forward to working with him because I know he’s excited to be here. He loves talking with people and getting to know and see faces. He’ll be able to interact with people from all over the state. Pennsylvania is a big state, with a lot of different little cultures within in, and it’ll be great to work with someone like Jared who’s able to interact with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.” Among the new leaders’ first responsibilities will be shoring up plans for the recently unveiled third-annual Youth Action Conference, which will be held Feb. 14-16 at the University of Pennsylvania. This year’s conference will focus on issues impacting transgender and gender-queer students. “We want to not only fight for the rights of transgender and gender-queer youth, but we want to make sure they’re able to participate in the planning of the youth movement,” Elmes said. “We see some obstacles in their involvement so we want to make sure they’re included. A lot of the focus in the LGBT movement is on the ‘L’ and the ‘G,’ but we think it’s important that we’re all united in that fight for equality.” For more information on PSEC, visit www.pennsec.org.