He came out to his friends, but not to the wider community. Kergil started Skidmore without wanting to be 'out' to everyone as a trans man. His passion for his music was clear, just ahead of his passion for working out and taking selfies. He performed his music at various open mic nights and informal concerts for his friends, always performing with his combination of zeal and grace.

Kergil was seen as one of the most genuine human beings on campus, and tended to easily make friends wherever he went. Over his years at Skidmore, Kergil participated in several clubs, including Skidmore's Japanese Taiko drumming group, SkiDaiko, and the LGBTQ group, Pride Alliance, where he held an executive board position as an upperclassman. Kergil made a strong group of friends over his freshman and second years who he still remains friends with now, including his first year roommate and subsequent excellent friend, Ethan Paul. In his junior year, he wrote a particularly touching poem about a hero hen named Hera freeing her fellow hens from a factory farm.

Kergil also took several poetry classes, feeling drawn to the subject from his years of writing lyrics for his music.

Īt Skidmore, Kergil majored in Art, at first concentrating primarily in painting (with a short dip into ceramics), but later focusing more on photography. The timing was important for him since he wanted to start at Skidmore College presenting as a man. He started testosterone in early 2009, his senior year of high school. He came out to his parents as a transgender man, and though greeted initially by concern, he was soon met with immense support from them. Over the next several years, Kergil met with a gender therapist and started going by the more gender-neutral name Skye. It wasn't until meeting a trans woman at a concert when he was 15 that Kergil realized he was transgender. This still was not the right fit for him. Soon, he started hanging out with his high school's lesbian crowd, cutting his hair and wearing baggy clothes, and playing in a punk rock band. Growing up, Sky presented himself as a tomboy, though in high school, he tried to change and fit in with the girls, which he said felt fake and uncomfortable. ( July 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.

Before I Had the Words by Skylar Kergil