Nicholas Senn "It was like he was doing it to exorcise his own demons, or he was doing it for his own purposes rather than doing it just for the sake of the students," Gokey said. "He was taking on this heroism that just seemed out of place." Fietek's prominence soon outgrew the classroom and theater stage. He gave an address at the White House in 2011 for the U.S. Department of Education's first-ever LGBTQ youth summit. He won a national award for LGBTQIA Youth Advocate Educator of the Year in 2013. He ran unsuccessfully as a DFL candidate for the ...