Every March, MU awards 39 seniors the Mizzou ’39 award and 18 graduate students the Mizzou 18 award. Graduate student Mark Bremer has earned both.

Before earning the award, Bremer created safe spaces for LGBTQ students in fraternities and sororities, an intersection previously uncovered. Some of the initiatives in that policy included safe space training for all fraternity and sorority members as well as sessions on how leaders could make more inclusive and welcoming spaces for all students. In graduate school, he has continued to create a more welcoming environment for all students through his role as co-president of OUTGrads and opportunities through a new involvement fair.

“Servant leadership to the campus is what the 18 and ‘39 awards are all about. To exemplify student leadership basically means that you selflessly give your time and energy to a cause other than your own that benefits the greater population of Mizzou. All of my involvement did that,” Bremer said.

During his undergraduate studies, Bremer represented the student body in the Missouri Students Association as the chair of the Social Justice Committee. In this position he upheld minority voices on issues surrounding MU. Those issues included things like making the Homecoming blood drive more inclusive, aiding an initiative for people to use the gendered bathroom they identify with and how the IFC and PHA could incorporate more diversity initiatives.

He advocated against bringing a Chick-fil-A to campus, which would have been put on top of the LGBTQ Resource Center. Chick-fil-A and its leaders have previously been connected and have donated to anti-LGBTQ groups. Bremer blocked requests to form student organizations that would be considered hate groups.

The awards differ in their selection criteria. The Mizzou ‘39 award focuses on “academic achievement, leadership and service to Mizzou,” according to the Mizzou Alumni Association, while the Mizzou 18 award recognizes students chosen for “world-class research, collaboration with faculty and staff, and their demonstrated leadership with undergraduate students.”

“They’re similar but different in the way that ’39 focuses on that leadership to the community part and servant leadership, but 18 focuses more on holistically what you do for the world,” Bremer said.

After receiving the Mizzou ’39 award in 2020, Bremer went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Health Science with an emphasis in Leadership and Policy, later deciding to attend MU for graduate school. Motivated by the previous award, Bremer said he knew he wanted to work toward setting himself apart for the Mizzou 18 award by creating a new involvement fair.

“A lot of what I think made me stand out was my service toward graduate students in general. I created the student involvement fair for graduate students specifically, which is a space that was previously vacant,” Bremer said.

He serves as co-president for OUTGrads, an organization for queer graduate students striving to make the graduate community at MU a safe and supportive space. The group was previously dormant for several years until Bremer revived it. Bremer also conducted research on Medicare expansion, specifically looking at health policy, which can have disparities between different marginalized groups.

Before he graduates from MU in May, Bremer said he wants to ensure the work he’s done has a lasting impact by ensuring members of the organizations he has been a part of have the necessary tools to continue functioning so graduate students continue to have access to the spaces he created for them.

Bremer said that others seeking to earn the Mizzou 18 or ‘39 award should remember what the awards are about: service toward the community, leadership and academic achievement. Bremer urged that finding a mentor on campus is an essential part of succeeding in college and to never underestimate the power of your peers or friends.

Edited by Emmet Jamieson | ejamieson@themaneater.com