Andrea Norwood won Best Freshmen/Sophomore in the Monroe Library Student Research Competition. Their paper, A Changing Identity: Loyola’s LGBT+ Organizations Over the Years (1991-2012) was written for Dr. Allison Edgren's The Historian's Craft class. Andrea said they enjoyed writing this paper because as a Freshman, they had never worked extensively with primary sources prior to this class, and they were excited to engage with the material. For the paper, Andrea used the Special Collections on the Monroe Library's website. They worked with digitized archives of The Maroon and old yearbooks to track the path the LGBT+ organizations took through the years. Through Dr. Edgren's class, they were able to better understand the importance of primary sources and how to properly engage with them and analyze them. A desire to learn more about the Queer History on campus inspired Andrea to put this paper together as the instructions from Dr. Edgren were to write about anything on campus through the use of the archives and special collections. Andrea described the class as their "first experience with real Historical research." Andrea is a Spanish minor and is considering their options as they continue their education with choices such as Archival Studies, Museum Studies, and Law School. 

The History Department is honored to have Andrea among its ranks, and wishes them success in the future of their research!