Commuting from Middlebury, they took advantage of the local GMT bus that drops off travelers at the corner of South Prospect and Main Streets. The stop is right next door from the Prism Center, which serves queer and trans communities at UVM—Sanchez found a welcoming community and a place to hang out between classes.

“I was known as the couch gremlin,” Sanchez says, earning the moniker for all the time they spent at the Center.

Their academic home was UVM‘s sociology department—they were particularly drawn to courses taught by Professor Eleanor Miller on criminal justice. When Miller announced the department’s new Crime and Criminal Justice concentration, Sanchez was among the first to sign up.

Miller also served as advisor for their Honors thesis “Urban Undesirables: Beggars in the Era of the Ugly Law.” Sanchez analyzed historical newspaper articles from the Progressive Era to better understand how the media helped legitimize punitive interventions against the homeless.

Sanchez received the Outstanding Junior Major award from the sociology department in 2018. In May, he graduated summa cum laude and was named Outstanding Senior Major. He also received the Jeanette R. Folta Memorial Award, the sociology department award given annually to the graduating senior who has shown special fortitude in meeting significant challenges, has succeeded academically, and has plans to pursue graduate education.

During commencement week, they made the student address at UVM’s Rainbow Graduation, an annual event hosted by the Prism Center.

“As a low income, queer, trans, Hispanic, chronically ill student without parents” they said, “I’ve accomplished more than I thought possible.”

Sanchez’s academic experience at UVM is fueling their ambitions at Yale. “I'm interested in both criminal justice reform and disability and housing advocacy,” they said. “Eventually I’d like to work in academia.”