Capstone Project: Alanna

than she or her teachers had imagined.

Working closely with librarian, Alex Balle, the idea of starting with books given the Stonewall award made the most sense. This organization recognizes literature with exceptional merit in the gay/lesbian/ transgender/bisexual communities. Alanna chose four books that had not only been given this distinction, but also were works she was familiar with. After carefully analyzing the data, she input the findings into charts that document the occurances of each criteria. While having a print out of her findings available to students in the library would be helpful, Alanna decided to add a 21st century caveat to the project. Each of the books in her collection will bear a specially crafted QR code with a colorful butterfly hovering near the top. Upon scanning the code, readers will have access to not only the data collected, but also a brief summary of each book written by Alanna that details her personal reflections of the story, plot and characters.

In her essay conclusion, Alanna shared, “This collection has so much personal relevance to me. Even as a young adult, it took a lot of digging around to be able to find these novels. And when I was growing up, I wasn’t able to find them. So this collection is not only for me, but for those of us in the queer community. For anyone who’s looking for this type of literaure, it will be right there for them, with no trouble to find.”

“It turned into more than just a project, it’s something that I’m super excited to share and have people see how hard I’ve been working on it.” Alanna Woitalla