2007 POINT SCHOLARS

Shaun Kasperbauer

Casey Sakir Point Scholar

Parsons

Product Design

Shortly after birth, Shaun was adopted by a family from a Catholic town in rural Iowa. Growing up, Shaun lived in a community where homophobia was the norm and discriminatory epithets were heard daily.

Despite living in an oppressive environment, Shaun excelled in academics, music, debate, theater, and a variety of extracurricular activities. Outside of school, Shaun devoted himself to volunteerism; working for groups such as The Relay for Life, and The United Way, while also coaching Junior High students in academic competitions.

Determined to not allow his environment to dictate life decisions, Shaun came out as gay during his senior year of high school. As the only openly gay student in his school, Shaun worked to fight homophobia in rural Iowa by being open and vocal about his sexuality and creating awareness for the need of LGBT equality within his school system. Shaun has courageously shown others that gay does not mean defective; it only means different.

As an undergraduate student at Parsons, Shaun majors in Product Design with a focus on internationally influenced design.