PRIDE! Kent, the university’’s LGBT student organization, is set to celebrate their 45th anniversary on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Governance Chamber of the Student Center.

The event will celebrate PRIDE!’s founding at Kent State, as well as remember those who were once involved in the organization and had an impact on the community.

Gabrielle Cooper, a senior human development and family studies major and president of PRIDE! Kent said the student group is the oldest continuously running LGBT organization in the nation.

Cooper has been involved in PRIDE! for two years and said she feels the organization is very important to the campus community.

“I think it’s important to show the community, as well as other communities, that we’re here,” Cooper said. “And we are able to organize and stick around — it really shows the strength of the (LGBT) community.”

Cooper said other student organizations will be invited to attend and several past members of PRIDE! will also be in attendance.

“What excites me the most is probably meeting people that I’ve never met before, that have been in my shoes,” Cooper said. “I’m really interested in the history aspect of this organization and what it was like before I was even part of it.”

She also said she felt it was important to bring back previous PRIDE! members to show them what the organization is doing and that the organization is still alive.

“I think it’s important to learn from those that come before us, so we don’t make the same mistakes they did, and so we can also learn from what they did do and if it worked or not,” Cooper said.

Emily Fulmer is a religion reporter, contact her at [email protected]