COD Celebrates 2017 Carter D. Carroll Excellence in History Award Winners

Auguste Baltrimaviciute (pictured above left with COD Associate Professor of History John Paris) of Naperville was recognized at a recent reception as this year's first-place recipient of the Carter D. Carroll Excellence in History Award for outstanding work in the field of history writing at College of DuPage. The award, which includes a $250 stipend to the first place winner, was created to encourage and reward high-quality academic writing in the field of history.

Baltrimaviciute's winning entry was a paper inspired by the Buck v. Bell Supreme Court case which ruled that people can be forcefully sterilized if they are seen as unfit to reproduce. She earned her GED in the summer of 2013 and continued to attend COD until the spring of 2016. Baltrimaviciute graduated with an associate degree as a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and with highest honors. She is currently studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago pursuing a major in History and a minor in Sociology and plans to apply to UIC's M.A./Ph.D. program in history. Her winning paper was submitted by COD Associate Professor of History Sam Mitrani.

Maggie Curran took second place for her essay about Che Guevara's autobiography "The Motorcycle Diaries," initially written for a History and Culture of Latin America class. The Downers Grove resident attended COD as a Presidential Scholar, earning an A.A. degree before transferring to Chicago's Columbia College, where she is currently pursuing a major in advertising with a minor in writing for television. She hopes to work at an ad agency or on a writing staff for a comedy series. Curran's paper was submitted by COD Associate Professor of History John Paris.

Lombard resident Ashleigh Brill received the third place award for her essay about the book, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. After attending COD in 2016, she is currently an Early Admission Nursing Student at the University of Iowa who will begin her first semester of actual nursing school in the fall. She plans to pursue a career as a Nurse Practitioner with a specialty in either Neo-Natalogy or Pediatrics. Brill's paper was submitted by COD History Instructor Christopher Jaffe.

Since its inception in 1994, the Carter D. Carroll Excellence in History Award honors students for excellent writing achievement in the field of history. Professor Carter D. Carroll was a founding faculty member at COD who taught History at the College for more than two decades. Instructors voluntarily nominate student papers that they feel are of excellent quality and have been assigned "A" grades.

Following the awards reception, guests and community members were treated to a free presentation of "A Forgotten Hero: American Journalist Januarius MacGahan and his Crusade for Bulgarian Freedom, 1876-1878" by Kamelia Popova, a historian, educator and lecturer at College of DuPage and the New Bulgarian School in Naperville.

For more information, please contact Assistant Professor of History John Paris at (630) 942-2064 or parisj@cod.edu. For information about COD's History program, visit www.cod.edu/programs/history.