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FINAL: In addition to graduating with his major in economics, Kyle Urbashich has completed his undergraduate LGBT studies’ certificate with his career at NIU filled with further work in this field. Urbashich is the president of Prism, the LGBT student-run organization on campus, where he works to help the advancement of LGBT people on campus. “I try to be a voice for people who are underheard,” Urbashich said. Urbashich has presented to the public on LGBT-related issues, including addressing stigmas associated with HIV and how to be a good ally to transgendered people. His contributions in helping the LGBT community have led to earning two highly esteemed awards: The Eychaner Award and the Margaret M. Cook Award. Urbashich said the Margaret M. Cook Award was a culminating point in his college career, and even though he did the work without the awards in mind, it touched him to be thanked for his efforts. Urbashich started in business administration but didn’t find himself in the work. Yet the world of economics spoke to him. He found it interesting how economic systems worked and the effects of inequality on economic growth. For Urbashich, it’s the “best of both my worlds coming together.” Urbashich feels the drive to help others due to his experience with the help he has been given in his life. When he was growing up, Urbashich was placed in a children’s home by the Department of Children and Family Services due to parental abuse. After he turned 18, the next place Urbashich went to live, was NIU. “Why I do most of the things I do, is because I know if it weren’t for other people’s graciousness and interest in helping me, I wouldn’t have made it this far,” Urbashich said, “Certainly not to college.”