Cal Alumni Pride

Ariel Boone

Major: Double major in Political Economy and Music

Hometown: Davis, California

Ariel Boone is a third-year undergraduate at Cal.  As a strong advocate for student voter participation, Ariel was elected to the ASUC Senate in April, representing Cal Berkeley Democrats, Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education (CalSERVE) and the queer community.  In 2008, Boone worked for Assembly member Mark DeSaulnier in Sacramento and interned for the Obama campaign from the primaries through the general election in Pittsburgh, PA, Oakland, CA, and finally, Reno, NV.  Her favorite city is Washington, DC, where she spent the summer working for a national defense think tank on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder policy in the armed forces. Ariel’s future career plans include international politics and potentially defense studies.

Michael McCutcheon 

Major: Psychology

Minor: LGBT Studies

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Michael McCutcheon is a senior Psychology major at UC Berkeley with a minor in LGBT Studies. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, he moved to California as a teenager and immediately fell in love with the Golden State. He plans to attend graduate school to receive hisdoctorate in clinical psychology and eventually maintain a private practice specializing in providing therapy for same-sex couples and adolescent coming out issues. In his spare time he enjoys volunteering for the YWCA Youth Mentor Program, reading, writing, running and traveling as much as possible. Michael intends on becoming a clinical psychologist concentrating on LGBT issues, same-sex couples therapy and adolescent coming out issues pertaining to promoting familial support.

Major: Public Health 

Minor: Global Poverty and Practice

Hometown: Tustin, California

Before college, Richie Nguyen served as President of his high school’s Gay Straight Alliance.  At Cal Richie continued working for the queer community, hoping to make queer spaces on campus more inclusive and sustainable.  During his freshman year, Richie joined Cal Queer & Asian and soon became a facilitator.  He is a founding brother of Sigma Epsilon Omega, Cal’s first and only gay fraternity, and served as SEO’s President in 2008.  As a junior, Richie became the President of the Queer Alliance and Resource Center.  A 2008 winner of the Cal Alumni Pride Leadership Scholarship, Richie is also a volunteer medic of the Gay Men’s Health Collective at the Berkeley Free Clinic, where the GMHC offers free STI testing services.  After he graduates, Richie plans to go to medical school.  As a physician, he hopes to help make healthcare more inclusive and accessible to the LGBTQI communities.

Major: Psychology

Hometown: Cerritos, California

As an out and open individual at UC Berkeley, Alan Shih has made it a goal of his to become a positive representative of the LGBT community. His experiences at UC Berkeley have included working for a professor at UC Berkeley Law School, conducting research with a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department and interning in the Economic and Workforce Development office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. In addition to his studies at Cal, Alan is currently working for the UC Berkeley Human Resources department and teaching a DeCal class on the topic of “Race, Education and Homosexuality.” Moreover, during his time abroad at Semester at Sea, Alan helped generate awarenessand facilitate discussion about LGBT issues through an organization called “Pride at Sea.”