Amanda Keller (Courtesy of Amanda Keller)Keller was an enthusiastic student of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy. After a less-than-engaging experience as a student at her small Catholic university in Ohio, Keller transferred to UAB and after a few different major changes found a completely new experience in her philosophy classes.“It was so refreshing and [the material] was presented in such a way that I, like day one, I hadn’t even read the material and I started arguing in class and presenting other ideas to people and I was just really inspired by them,” Keller says. “[The faculty] really facilitated a wonderful environment for dialogue and discussion about whatever it was.”
Keller says philosophy taught her to think outside the box and make diplomatic arguments, skills she uses in her everyday work with BAO.
BAO is a non-profit organization that provides community events, testing, and care for Birmingham's HIV-positive community. In addition to supporting those who are HIV positive, BAO has recently expanded its mission to include the broader LGBTQ community, which has been a strong supporter of the organization over its 30 years.
Keller says that while Birmingham has always had a fairly high rate of HIV infection, most of those cases were among 24-30 year olds. Alarmingly, the population that is growing fastest in terms of new cases is a much younger set.
Keller points out that, “Birmingham is actually 17th in the nation for HIV/AIDS. The newest group of new infections has always occurred in those who are 24-30. So when it shifted down to 13-24 year olds for the highest rate of newly infected people, we said these are kids. These are children. What can we do? So we opened a youth center.”
In order to address this growing population of HIV-positive individuals, BAO has opened the Magic City Acceptance Center which provides education and social opportunities for the youth of Birmingham’s LGBTQ community. The center provides whatever the youth say they need, including art workshops, support groups, movie nights, and health and wellness workshops. Their goal is to be open every day of the week and to provide even more services.
“Youth walk into the center and start crying and tell me the place is magical and that it means everything to them just that it exists,” Keller says. “Those are the moments where you’re like: ‘Okay this is making a difference.’”
While Keller and BAO are making a difference in the lives of the LGBTQ youth, she eventually wants to go back to school to become a professor to give back to students in the way that the faculty of UAB gave to her.
“I just was so inspired by the teachers. They made me want to be that good student,” says Keller. “It was the first time in my life, for all the majors I’ve ever done that I was motivated. I really wanted to learn more and I couldn’t learn enough.”
Keller’s advice to students was very simply: go to class.
“Everything you learn is one more thing that can mold you. As someone who was very heavily impacted by this, I would say that you never want to miss out on an opportunity like that. So go to class.”
When asked about what’s coming next for her, Keller replied: “I would say that it’s a train and I’m on it. I don’t know where it’s going but I don’t want to get off.”
For more information about Birmingham AIDS Outreach and their LGBTQ Programs, visit their website at http://www.birminghamaidsoutreach.org/
Brodie Foster is a 2015-16 UAB Digital Media fellow and an English major with a concentration in Literature and a minor in Digital Community Studies. She works with videography, editing, and writing.
