Issuu

Oak Farm Montessori High School Capstone Publication

2021-2022

Contents Ellie Cook...................................3 Allana Woitalla.......................12

ELLIE COOK

Feeding and Fostering INTRODUCTION “Every child deserves a champion–an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best they can possibly be” (Rita F. Pierson). Almost ten years ago, my parents decided they wanted to be champions for children in the foster care system. They came to my sister and me with the idea of becoming a foster family. At eight years old, the thought of having someone new to play with sounded exciting, so naturally we agreed with our parents, and not long after they started the process of becoming foster parents. Though I was just eight years old, I remember going through interviews, home visits, and lots of applications. It was quite overwhelming and I started having second thoughts. I never expressed this to my parents because I knew they had worked so hard, and ultimately I had made the decision with them to begin this journey. About three months later, my parents were officially licensed foster parents and within a few days, my mom received the first call of many. It was for a five-year-old girl who needed to be moved from her current foster home. Eager to welcome a new child into our home, my parents said yes. In the past ten years, they have said yes: thirty-eight times. At first friends and family were very supportive and wanted to do all they could to help ease this transition for not only the foster child but for my family as well. People offered to babysit, pray and even cook meals. I was so grateful for these people, but I remember being especially grateful for those who made the meals. My dad worked during the week and was only home on the weekends, so my mom was the main caretaker for my sister, this new foster child, and me. I knew it was stressful for her trying to juggle appointments, work, school, and extracurriculars. A lot of the time she was exhausted by the end of the day, and it was very taxing for her to make dinner. When people brought meals, I noticed there was a weight that had been lifted off her shoulders. She was able to spend more quality time with not only us but the foster children as well. All around she was just so much happier and so much more relaxed. After a couple of months, people stopped offering help and support. I saw all that stress overtake my mom, and though she did her best to conceal it, there were times when she just couldn’t. Seeing my mom so overwhelmed really had quite an impact on me. I knew that many other foster parents were feeling that same sense of overwhelming stress every single day, and I wanted to help alleviate some of that, so I decided that for my Senior Capstone project I was going to create a meal delivery service for foster families in Dekalb County. LITERATURE REVIEW I began my project by conducting online research. A few of the sources I used are entitled, “The Call”, “Healing the Hole in the Heart,” and “Six Struggles Every Foster Parent Faces.” These sources were each written by social workers who specifically work with foster families. Each of these sources discusses the importance of supporting foster families in their mission to provide a safe and loving environment for the children that enter their homes. “The Call” provides insight on how churches can support foster families within their congregation and community by not only praying, but offering to collect donations and necessary items for the child as well, such as toiletries, and clothing. Most often, children in foster care are quickly removed from their homes with nothing, but maybe a small toy. Gathering these items for the child allows the family to use the time they would have had to spend shopping and enables the foster family to start forming a bond with their foster child. This gesture aids in making the child comfortable within their new surroundings. “Healing the Hole in the Heart” talks about the first-person experience of a foster family who felt very alone while fostering and adopting their son. This family speaks out about how the very little services and support they were receiving almost immediately stopped once they adopted their son. Friends and family stopped coming over and people mostly kept their distance. The mother (Rebecca Cole) believes this was due to her adopted son’s violent rages and threats. She expresses that he needed more services than the system was providing. Eventually, Rebecca and her husband had to send their son to a residential facility and, thankfully, he is learning skills to help him control his anger. 3

Once their son went into residential care, friends and family started coming around again, but whenever their son would visit home people would stay away. Rebecca expresses that this was a very hard time in their lives for not only her and her husband, but more importantly, their son. She wishes friends and family would have offered support and had offered their time no matter the capacity. The article “Six Struggles Every Foster Parent Faces” gives details about the six most common struggles foster parents go through. One of the most common struggles for foster parents was finding time to make a balanced and nutritional meal. Foster parents are expected to provide transportation for the foster child to and from visits, appointments, meetings, etc. Between these expectations and their own children’s activities, something as simple as dinner can become an overwhelming task. When a friend or family member provides a meal, these foster parents feel supported, and having dinner provided means there is one less thing they have to worry about at the end of the day. APPROACH After conducting my research on ways to help support foster families, I kept coming back to the idea of providing meals. I reflected on the positive impact that having a hot, healthy meal had on my family, and I wanted other foster families to feel that same sense of relief knowing that dinner would be taken care of. I took this idea and wrote up a plan for this project that I then proposed to a panel of members at my high school. Once my proposal was approved I started working closely with members of the foster family support group for Dekalb County. I discussed with the board members of the group my plans for a meal train for the foster families of Dekalb County. They agreed that a meal train would be very beneficial to these families. Not long after my meeting with the Dekalb County foster family support group board, I constructed a Google form detailing, name, address, meal type, and dietary restrictions. I then sent this form out to Dekalb County Foster Families and waited for responses. (Figure A) Within the first day, I had already received five meal requests. My original plan was to do the cooking and delivering right from my house, but then I decided I really wanted to involve my school community in my project. I met with Kim Davidson, (Strategic Partnership Director) and Nikole Albright (Communications and Events Coordinator) at Oak Farm Montessori School On December 3, 2021. I presented them with my idea, and we worked together to come up with a plan on how to involve my school community. Because I attend a Montessori school, each of our buildings is equipped with a kitchen, which opened up the possibility of moving the meal train operation to my high school. I ran with that idea and decided to request donations from families and students at my school as well. I created donation sign-ups and volunteer forms ( Figures D & E), I was overwhelmed with the eagerness my community had to help provide meals to these families. I had children and adults ages three to sixty-three involved with my project, from cooking and delivering meals, to making cards and bringing in donation items. THE “DOING PART” On Saturday, February 12th, 2022, I, along with a group of students and staff from my high school, gathered to cook and deliver six nutritious meals to six foster families in Dekalb County. My original plan was to make and deliver meals on February 5th, but because of the weather, I had to reschedule. I needed to find a way to effectively communicate the reschedule with those who were bringing in donations, and the foster families who were expecting a meal. I sent out emails and made phone calls and informed them that the new date would be February 12th. Because of the date change, I had many volunteers who were unable to make it. I had not even a week to fill those missing spots, so I got to work. I made announcements at school and to the local community looking for volunteers to aid in this project. Luckily, so many people were willing to help, and the meal train was back on track. On the 12th, my volunteers and I met at Oak Farm Montessori High School and started prepping our workspace. Some of us cleaned and sanitized the kitchen while others unloaded and organized donation items. Once our space was ready, we got to work. We had requests for four baked ziti meals, one Macaroni and cheese meal, and one baked spaghetti meal. A couple of people were responsible for each meal and ensuring it was made with family size, food allergies, and meal preference in mind. I was super thankful for all of my volunteers’ generosity with this project so I provided some snacks and drinks throughout the day. I also had upbeat music playing and all-around had a really great time preparing these meals. Once all the meals were ready, a couple of the volunteers and I delivered them. Each meal was complete with an entre’, side, dessert, Indiana National State Park pass, two board games, and a handwritten card to go with it. Each family was so grateful and it was absolutely wonderful to be able to provide them with a nice, nutritious meal. At the end of the 4

day, everyone’s hearts were filled with so much joy. It was amazing to see students, teachers, and parents come together and really put so much time and effort into meals for people they don’t even know just out of the goodness of their hearts. I was truly blessed to be able to do this, and I received a plethora of support that I will forever be grateful for. Overall, it was an amazing day and an amazing experience that neither my volunteers nor I will ever forget. PRODUCTS/RESULTS/FINDINGS The primary research method I used was descriptive research. I chose this methodology because it allowed me to collect data based on real-life experiences and focuses on answering the what question rather than the how/why. I focused the majority of my research on finding ways surrounding communities can help support and encourage active foster families. A large portion of my research came from interviews with local foster parents in Dekalb County. I wanted to know from their first-hand experiences, particularly with community support, if they felt supported at all in their journey of fostering. Sixty-seven percent of families stated, at first they felt support, but it very quickly ended. When asked about the support they received one foster parent commented that “At first it felt like everyone was excited and wanting to help welcome the new child(ren) into our home. I got texts and calls almost every day from friends and family asking what they could do to help. After we had more and more kiddos come to stay with us it seemed as though with each one our friends and family became less interested and willing to help. It was almost as though these kids were a new toy and these adults acted like children in a sense that they would be all excited for a little bit and then eventually become bored and not want to play with the toy anymore” (Anonymous). This was something that really stuck with me throughout the whole project. I decided to dig deeper and look into what the word support means to foster families and how surrounding communities can show it to these families. While conducting research I came across a source entitled, The Needs of Foster Parents A Qualitative Study of Motivation, Support, and Retention. This source discussed data from nine foster parent focus groups (54 participants) focused on how the foster care system, community, and other foster parents can better support foster families. The goal of this study was to identify the supports that these families need. Tracy E. MacGregor, says, “Foster parents spoke at length about the many ways that they either felt supported in their role by their child welfare agency, including the following categories: Emotional support, trust with agency workers, recognition as a team member, resource support for foster children, Crisis intervention, monetary compensation, respite/relief, and training.” Throughout the study, many foster parents spoke out about ways they could be better supported by those involved with them and their families. Resource support such as medical, educational, and counseling services for not only the foster child but the family as well. Lots of parents feel like they are constantly fighting for everything needed by their foster children, especially those with special needs. One foster parent stated, “These are very damaged children and I have to fight every single step of the way to get them therapy and educational support”(Dekalb County foster parent). Even though only one foster parent is quoted saying this, I have personally experienced this in my own family and have heard other foster families talk about the struggle in getting resources– for not only themselves but their foster children as well. Respite care was another huge support foster families stressed was needed. Respite care in regards to the foster system can be defined as temporary care of a child(ren) in foster care. Usually, this caregiver is approved by the welfare agency associated with that child. In the MacGregor study, foster parents responded that respite care from foster child care was required to ensure the positive functioning of the foster family and their biological children. One parent attests to this by saying, “It’s so important for balance. If you or your own children’s mental health demands that you get respite, you must do it. Our number one priority still has to be our original family. There are times when we as a biological family need that separation”(Anonymous). This response and statistic really stayed and resonated with me throughout my research. I had always felt like it was wrong to want a break, but after looking at this study I feel so much better knowing I am not the only one who thinks this way. Thousands of others do as well. The Needs of Foster Parents A Qualitative Study of Motivation, Support, and Retention was vital in solidifying my decision to create a meal train for local foster families because while my recruited volunteers can’t provide respite or services, they can help prepare and deliver a nutritious meal. In order to keep track of each family’s meal requests and other vital information, I decided to create a Google form. Before creating the form I thought about what I needed to know about each family, in order to deliver a quality meal that is both easy to make and nutritious as well. I started off with the basics of how I would communicate with these families. First, I would need to know the names of who I was communicating with, along with that I would need to 5

know how to communicate with them. Next came the most important parts; what meal did this family want to receive, (Figure A). were there any dietary restrictions for any members, and how many people were in the family. Because I and a group of volunteers would be delivering these meals, I then needed to know where these families lived, so I asked for an address for each of them. Between using a phone number or email address, I decided that a phone number would be the most efficient way to contact them as most people tend to check their phones more than their email. Once the form was created it was checked and reviewed by my mentors and teachers, then posted on the Region Four Foster Family Support Group Facebook page. Below I added pictures of what the form I sent out looked like before it was filled out (Figure A) and then after it was filled out (Figure B). I used Google Forms to collect responses for the meal train and it automatically allowed me to see all the data taken from every response, so I added pictures of that as well. I included these images because I wanted to physically show what I had done in the means of collecting data and responses for the meal train rather than just talking about it within my paper.

-Form that was sent to foster families in Dekalb County (Figure A)

-Example of the form filled out by Dekalb County Foster Parent, Sarah Reasner (Figure B) 6

-Data from all six families who signed up to receive a meal (Figure C)

-Donation form/list of items needed to make the meal (Figure D)

- Volunteer form (Figure E)

DISCUSSION During this project, I learned a number of things, not only about my community but myself as well. I learned that my community is a truly caring group of people who poured their hearts and souls into making this meal train a success. I learned that I am capable, even through the small act of providing a meal, I can make a big difference in others’ lives. During the first portion of my project, I really doubted whether or not a meal train for foster families was something I could actually pull off. I struggled getting started because I had so many ideas on how to execute this project, but I wanted to be sure to pick the most effective way to provide these foster families with a hot and nutritious meal. I interviewed different people who work in the foster care system focusing primarily on foster families. I asked interview questions regarding the support they received from not only the system but friends and family as well. Most families said that they really didn’t feel supported as a foster family and this led me to the question of wondering as a foster family what the most stressful part of your day is. Sixty percent of foster families said between visits, appointments, extracurriculars, and their biological children’s needs, mealtime was the most stressful part of their day. At this point, I knew a meal train was the best way I could help these foster families located in Dekalb County. The data I gathered from the meal train was significant because it allowed me to know specific information about each family such as phone numbers, meal preferences, and specific food allergies. I was able to gather feedback from foster families on how the meal train was executed and how I could better improve this program. I was able to track what meals were the most popular among these families. By having this data I can better understand how to make the necessary improvements to grow this program– not only within my community but outside of my community as well. FUTURE DIRECTIONS As I begin my college career, I would love to have a few individuals take over this program and continue the meal train each year focusing on a different county. I would still like to be very active in the program, but since I will be moving to Indianapolis, I feel that appointing a group of students from my high school who are just as passionate about helping these foster families as I am would allow me to focus on my post-secondary education while also still being closely involved with the program. While these students have not been chosen yet, there has been some interest shown, and I would like to have these students picked by the beginning of July to ensure they have enough time to plan and adjust to their new roles. In November of this year, I would like both the group of students and me to focus on Noble County foster families by preparing a Thanksgiving meal. Instead of doing the planning portion myself, I would have those appointed students help manage the operations of the program. I will be attending IUPUI in Indianapolis to major in social work with a minor in pre-law. While I am attending college, I would like to join a similar program on the IUPUI campus called “Paws Pantry.” Paws Pantry is a food bank for students and staff who attend and work at IUPUI. While I wouldn’t be making meals, I would still be involved in providing food to those in need. I feel like joining their program will expand my horizons and allow me to work with a more diverse group of people, not just within the foster care system. I am hopeful that with my experience I will be able to make helpful suggestions to the pantry and provide new insight on how to better serve the IUPUI community. CONCLUSION Through my experiences, I have grown passionate about foster care and the foster care system. As a foster sibling for most of my life, I understand the importance of mealtime and the stress that it can create. To espouse this community need and academic assignment, I carefully created and executed a project with a wide-reaching effect. I am orchestrating groups of volunteers, soliciting food donations, scheduling meal preparation locations and dates, and strategically planning the logistics of delivering free, prepared meals to foster families in northeast Indiana. Through this experience, I have actively led and organized a diverse, multigenerational group of individuals from different religious, economic, and social backgrounds. Through the power of community activism and collaboration, I have engaged with local non-profits, school peers, community members, a mentor who is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and many others to create 10

a program that is inclusive, effective, efficient, and energetic. It has been extremely meaningful for me to introduce mindfulness to the variety of cultural practices that are present during mealtime. I called on my experiences as a foster sibling and intentionally created a project where all participants will gain a better understanding of diversity and inclusion, from food insecurities to cultural food practices to socioeconomic disparities. Overall, this project really allowed me to become more confident in my choice to pursue a Master’s Degree in social work and I feel ready to follow in my parent’s footsteps of being a champion. BIBLIOGRAPHY: AACAP. (2018, October). Foster Care. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Foster-Care-064.aspx. Amy Morin, L. C. S. W. (2020, June 8). Here are the biggest challenges foster parents face. Verywell Family. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-unique-challenges-foster-families-face-4779821. Bergsund, Hans B., et al. “[Parenting Stress in Long-Term Foster Carers: A Longitudinal Study].” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 26 Nov. 2019, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ cfs.12713#:~:text=Foster%20parents%20are%20overall%20more,of%20parenting%20stress%20are%20discussed. Berry, M. (2020, September 10). 6 struggles every foster parent faces. The Honestly Adoption Company. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://honestlyadoption.com/6-struggles-every-foster-parent-faces/. Christian, S. (2002, December). Healing the hole in the heart. State Legislatures, 28(10), 30+. https://link. gale.com/apps/doc/A95387006/GPS?u=oakfarm&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b4596ca5 Cook, Ellie G. “What Foster Care Means to You .” 14 Sept. 2021. Cook, Ellie G. “Self Care as a Social Worker.” 1 Oct. 2021. Cook, Ellie G. “Stressors in the System .” 2 Sept. 2021. Cook, Ellie G. “Rewards and Hardships Within Foster Care .” Cook, Ellie G. “Wants/Needs of Foster Families .” 12 Aug. 2021. Cook, Ellie G. “How Can We Help .” 28 Sept. 2021. Davis, Angela, et al. “17 Practical Ways You Can Support Foster Parents.” Frugal Living NW, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.frugallivingnw.com/how-to-support-foster-parents/. Finally Family Homes. “42 Aging out of Foster Care Statistics.” Finally Family Homes, 12 Nov. 2021, https://finallyfamilyhomes.org/the-problem/. Forber-Pratt, I., & Moredock, M. (2021, October). 30 Days to Family[R]: The Unbuilt Bridge: SCALING GOVERNMENT-INVOLVED PROGRAMS IN THE SPACE BETWEEN INSTITUTIONAL / FOSTER CARE-BASED SERVICES AND PREVENTIVE SERVICES. Policy & Practice, 79(5), 16+. https://link.gale. com/apps/doc/A683433071/GPS?u=oakfarm&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=afdda518 Mcgregor, Tracy E, et al. “The Needs of Foster Parents: A Qualitative Study of ...” The Needs of Foster Parents A Qualitative Study of Motivation, Support, and Retention, Sage Publications, 2006, https://journals. sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1473325006067365. The‌‌CALL.‌‌(2019,‌‌October‌‌21).‌‌‌Arkansas‌‌Business‌,‌‌‌36‌(42),‌‌11A.‌‌ https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606750562/GPS?u=oakfarm&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid 6e8ab8f3‌ Ways to help. AdoptUSKids. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.adoptuskids.org/ adoption-and-foster-care/overview/ways-to-help. 11

ALLANA WOITALLA

A Queer Collection Created By a Queer Kid

Growing up as a queer kid, it can be extremely difficult to find good representation of yourself in the media you consume. It’s filled with heterosexual and cisgender characters, as this is presented as the norm in our lives. This makes it extremely difficult for those of us who are queer to engage with media that we can relate to. It’s easy to see other people, but we often miss that representation, and are pushed to the side. I decided that I wanted to do my Capstone project on representation of the queer community in literature for several reasons. First, I just wanted to explore what representation is actually available. It might not be easy to find, but I wanted to know what it was. I also wanted to explore the difficulty of finding this type of literature: can you just grab a book off the shelf and it would be filled with good queer representation? Or does it take time to research and dig around on the internet to find these books? Lastly, I wanted to do this because of its personal relevance to me. I don’t remember reading a book with any queer representation until my freshman year of highschool. I don’t want other people to spend the majority of their childhood reading books that never even put a thought into the queer community. The goal of my Capstone is pretty simple. I want to read literature containing queer representation, analyze it, and put those works into a collection. I took a while to search for books that I thought would be a good fit for the project, as well as using books I had previously read. After analyzing the content within them, I will compile the books into a collection. This will allow the community to access these books with more ease, not having to search for them themselves. Having access to personal representation in media as a whole is extremely important. Mariana Diaz-Wionczek, the former head of education and research on Dora the Explorer, says that “‘... media sometimes serves as a window and sometimes serves as a mirror,’” (Blair). Children want to see themselves in what they consume. They are drawn to characters that are like them. And for those who are not in the queer community, it is quite easy to find this representation. Author Malinda Lo did some research into the representation of the queer communtiy starting in 2011. In 2016, she found only 79 books from mainstream publishers that featured LGBTQ protagonists, and 81 percent of LGBTQ YA fiction had a cisgender boy or girl as the main character. Another author, Eric Cameron, says that as an asexual person, she has never seen herself fully represented in a book. Though there have been increases in the amount of queer representation, it still lacks a lot of diversity within the community itself. Additionally, authors are typically faced with some type of backlash from editors or non-queer readers about their choices. They are often told that editors were “not able to connect” with characters or that it would be more likely for a character to be one sexuality instead of another (“The Rise of Young Adult Books with LGBTQ Characters - and What’s Next.”). Another big issue of queer representation in literature is what types of stories queer people are featured in and who writes these stories. Many queer stories are centered around th struggle of coming out. While these stories are still needed, the community also needs stories within genre fiction, like fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc. Like YA author Caleb Roehrig says, “‘I want stories about gays in space and trans people solving mysteries’” (“The Rise of Young Adult Books with LGBTQ Characters - and What’s Next.”). And recently, genre fiction including queer representation has been greatly increasing. However, within that, there is another huge issue: who writes these novels. Most of the 12

successful queer novels are written by cisgender, straight women. There are several issues with this. One of the biggest being that these novels are not written for queer audiences. As YA author Lev Rosen stated, “‘... when you write, your first audience is always yourself. So when a straight person is telling a gay story, they’re almost always telling that for a straight audience through the ‘straight gaze’”. What this means is that authors are telling queer stories in a way that a straight audience would enjoy, instead of to the audience who could truly relate to the characters. This is a huge problem, because when this happens, these stories can be filled with misleading stereotypes, and queer readers see themselves misrepresented for the entertainment of straight readers. There is also a lot of historical importance to this idea. Slash fiction, where two (typically male) characters were reimagined in a sexual and/or romantic relationship. This was very popular for female writers in the 70s as a way of expression and desire. Because these stories are MLM (male love male), but written by women, they can often lead to the sexualization of gay relationships, predominantly by women (Kheraj). After doing research into what others have seen of queer representation in literature, it was time for me to begin my own research. I started with selecting books that I felt would be a good pick based on a few different criteria. First, I looked for books that I had previously read and felt would be a good fit for my research. One I was able to use in my research was “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”. The author of this novel, Benjamin Alire Sáenz , is gay himself. Additionally, the book was a Stonewall Book Award winner, which is an award given to English language books that have exceptional merit relating to the LGBTQIA+ experience (NAT 34). One of the biggest reasons I wanted to use this novel is that it contains an MLM relationship, and is written by a gay man (Salazar).Thus, the aspects of the relationship are built off of personal experiences, and not created by someone for the entertainment of the straight community. The next book I chose was “The Last Night at the Telegraph Club”. This is a WLW (woman love woman) romance. This was given the Stonewall Book Award for 2022 (Szalusky). This was one I chose before it was awarded this, and it worked out perfectly. It portrays the experience of the queer community (specifically the lesbian community) in the 1950s. The third book I included was “Little & Lion”. This novel features a black, bisexual main character, along with other queer side characters. It also won the Stonewall Honor Award in 0000. The last novel I have included in my research is “Picture Us in the Light”, which was a Stonewall Book Award Honor winner (Admin). This novel contains a very implied MLM romance nearing the end of the novel. The biggest factor about all of these books is that they all received some type of Stonewall Award, and, except for “The Last Night at the Telegraph Club”, are not primarily focused on the relationship of the characters. They include complex stories outside of the queer relationship. “Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” is about a teen boy, Aristotle, discovering his identity as a teenager, and growing up alongside his new best friend, Dante. Though Aristotle and Dante’s relationship is a part of the story, that is not the book’s primary focus: it is on the struggles of finding your identity and who you are. “Little & Lion” is about the same. It follows Suzette and her brother Lionel and their relationship after Suzette returns from college for the summer. It has a great focus on the challenges of two people both changing and growing, and trying to navigate that together, while also featuring Suzette’s journey on discovering her sexuality. “Picture Us in the Light” was the least focused on the queer relationship out of all four books. In fact, the relationship between the two main characters, Daniel and Harry, is never actually confirmed explicitly. The book tells the story of Daniel and his parents, as Daniel begins to uncover the true story of his parent’s immigration to America. “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”, though primarily featuring the relationship between Lily and Kathleen, also tackles some harder topics. Set in the 1950s, Lo’s book discusses the communism, racism, and homophobia that was extremely prevalent in that time, all while giving readers the story of two girls falling in love. I tackled my research of these books by using content analysis. For this, as I read the books, I took note of things that I felt were examples of queer representation within the novel, such as flirting, romantic situations, etc. I did this for each novel, and then added all of these moments to an overall chart, to visualize the amount across all four books. Content analysis was the best method of research for this project, as it allowed me to create my own criteria, gave lots of flexibility on the scaling of the data, and was very personalized to what I was looking for. Below is the data that I collected from the novels. 13

Table 1 Instances of Flirtatious Thoughts and/or Instances of Flirting by Book

Table 2 Instances of Discreet Communication Between Queer Characters by Book

Table 3 Instances of Queer Representation in Supporting Characters by book

Table 4 Instances of Reading Queer Literature by book

Table 5 Instances of Heteronormativity by book

Table 6 Instances of Discussion of Queer Identities by book

Table 7 Instances of Internal and/or External Homophobia by book

Table 8 Instances of Romantic Thoughts and/or Situations by book

Table 9 Instances of Open Queer Actions (kissing, sexual conduct, etc,) by book

Table 10 Instances of Implied Queer Relationships by book

Table 11 Instances of Sexuality Questioning by book

Table 12 Instances of Implied Flirting by book

Throughout out all four books, I saw a huge amount of representation of the queer community. I saw characters flirting with each other, I saw characters figuring out their sexualities, and I saw characters like me. I was actually quite surprised at what I found throughout the books. One of the biggest things that stood out to me was the presence of internalized homophobia, which is simply queer people having internalized the homophobia in society and putting it onto themselves (“Internalised Homophobia.”). Many queer people experience internalized homophobia when discovering their sexuality, and it can often be very distressing, and overall is a large battle. I was really glad to see this included in some of the novels, as I don’t believe a lot of straight people actually know that I, and many others of the queer community, have battled with it. I also really appreciated the discussion of a person’s identity, an queer supporting characters. This really helps to normalize these discussions in the real world, not make it something uncomfortable or weird. It also gives queer readers a sense of acceptance that they might not feel in their lives, but they can see that that is possible for them, and there are people who support them. Queer supporting characters are also vital because it makes having queer characters much more normalized. It allows for that to be part of the character without making it the entire focus of the story. After spending so much time researching these novels and reading, I am hoping to have a fairly large collection of novels. Though only four have been included in the research because of time constraints, I will be including as many as I can into the collection. 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, it will be right there for them, with no trouble to find. Once my capstone has come to an end, there’s a few things that I am hoping that I can leave behind, in a sense. Working with Alex has been amazing for this project. We have discussed the idea of giving all the books in my collection some type of marking or sticker, to symbolize their importance in this project. I am also hoping that this project will inspire other members of the queer community in the lower grades to do something like this. Whether it be a book club, recommending books to each other, whatever. I know that if I saw someone doing a project like this as a middle schooler, it would have meant the absolute world to me. So I can only hope that it means the world to them.

Works Cited Admin. “Stonewall Book Awards List.” Round Tables, 19 Apr. 2021, www.ala.org/rt/rrt/award/stonewall/honored. Blair, Elizabeth. “Kids Need to See Themselves Reflected in the Media. Here Are Some Recommendations.” NPR, NPR, 26 Dec. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/12/26/1062369487/kids-books-tv-video-gamesdiverse-characters?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-npr&utm_content=later-23463724&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio. “Internalised Homophobia.” Rainbow Project, 30 Mar. 2021, www.rainbow-project.org/internalised-homophobia/. Kheraj, Alim. “Does It Matter Who Writes Queer Stories?” I, 18 May 2018, i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/8xeg4b/does-it-matter-who-writes-queer-stories. NAT34. “Stonewall Book Awards.” Round Tables, 30 June 2021, www.ala.org/rt/rrt/award/stonewall. Szalusky. “‘Too Bright to See’ and ‘Last Night at the Telegraph Club’ Win 2022 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.” News and Press Center, 24 Jan. 2022, www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/01/too-bright-see-and-last-night-telegraph-club-win-2022-stonewall-children-s. “The Rise of Young Adult Books with LGBTQ Characters - and What’s Next.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 10 Mar. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/rise-young-adult-books-lgbtqcharacters-what-s-next-n981176. Salazar, Alejandra. “Benjamin Alire Sáenz Discovers the Secrets of His Universe.” Latino USA, 20 Jan. 2022, www.latinousa.org/2022/01/21/benjaminaliresaenz/.