2010 graduate Garrett McMullin finds self through high school class and friendship with former teacher

Strutting across the stage in full drag character, 2010 graduate Garrett McMullin pouts and winks at a couple of ladies off the stage, prompting laughs from the audience. Flashback to his high school days, however, and McMullin would never even have the thought to perform in drag.

McMullin was introduced to the drag scene through his best friend and from the popular reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” He got a job as a bartender at local bar Missie B’s, and, for one of its annual shows in November called Bartender Review, where drag queens and bartenders switch places, McMullin had the opportunity to perform in drag.

“I started to work at Missie B’s and made friends with a bunch of the drag queens. That, along with ‘RuPaul’s,’ is what made me start thinking about what I would look like as a girl,” McMullin said. “So, I had one of the queen’s put me in drag for Bartender Review. The first time I did it, I was terrified, but after that, I was just like, ‘I have to do it.’”

McMullin said he hasn’t always been so comfortable in his own skin, however. In high school he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be, according to McMullin. He does cite a lot of his growth as a person to Reconnecting Youth, a class taught by teacher Bob Lewis to support struggling students.

“I got into the class because I was caught doing drugs a couple of times, and I had a couple of bad grades. Honestly, that was one of the greatest classes I ever took,” McMullin said. “I remember one time [Lewis] took us to St. Mary’s soup kitchen. It gave you a new perspective of life and was really fun.”

Communication arts teacher Kristen Crosbie taught McMullin in English 10 and 12. McMullin said that she, along with his Reconnecting Youth class, influenced him for the better.

“Crosbie always saw the goodness in me. She just became one of my friends and told me some of her life experiences. It’s just like any other friend,” McMullin said. “You just talk about stuff and you get that other perspective. She’s always just so positive about everything, and, even when she wasn’t, I would be positive for her.”

Crosbie, who acknowledges McMullin’s old rebellious behaviors, is grateful to have witnessed  McMullin’s growth from a teenager to the person he is today.

“It’s nice that I get to see what my former students do in life, because it seems like I meet such interesting people, and [I] love to see their successes. In [Garrett’s] case, I have loved to see him grow into the person he is because I always thought he was smart and funny,” Crosbie said. “It’s been nice to watch him grow into himself and for us to develop a friendship.”

Crosbie has been a primary source of support in all aspects of his life during and after high school, and McMullin said he is grateful for her friendship and his Reconnecting Youth class.

“[The class] did help change me. Even if I didn’t think it helped at the time, looking back on it it did,” McMullin said. “There are plenty of things I look back on in highschool that have made me a better person, like all of the bad things I did in highschool. If there was one class that helped me, that was it. ”