BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – Not content with learning about history, three Brockway Area Junior-High School decided to make school history after taking top honors at the regional National History Day event at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Students across the country compete in National History Day by finding a topic united by a common theme – this year’s being Tragedy and Triumph. The students can enter papers, exhibits, skits, and more. Schools of any size can compete, and Brockway felt right at home against some larger contenders.
“Some of the more major schools brought big teams – like Indiana, Marian Center, Johnstown – so we were one of the smallest, if not the smallest school to go,” Brockway history teacher Shawn Smith said.
Smith believes that Brockway is the farthest north the region goes. Brockway probably had the farthest drive.
Brockway junior Shaughny Richardson had taken first place in the paper category last year, allowing her to head to the state competition. Smith said that another win in the paper category was not a guarantee.
Brockway’s Shaughny Richardson (left) and Molly Wise after the research paper awards.
“The director of the program, before he did the announcement of the awards, he prefaced the papers as being excellent,” Smith said. “Every year, every category gets sharper and sharper. So I was a little on-edge when he said that. But I knew Shaughny’s paper was good. We had high expectations, and she made sure it was nice and polished.”
Richardson’s paper came in first again. Smith credits the junior’s experience last year with giving her the knowledge to succeed again.
Richardson wrote her paper last year about Japanese-American internment during World War II, but this year’s topic was Native American relocation. Richardson is very busy in her junior year – taking advanced classes and working a job – so this win was a big deal to her.
“The hardest part is putting all your research together,” she explained. “The fact that I was so busy this year compared to last year, to put all that hard work into it and win, it feels really good.”
Richardson said her Advanced Placement US History course put her on this track.
“My AP US History class was talking about this topic, but we didn’t really go in-depth,” Richardson said. “I wanted to look into something that isn’t heavily covered, but is still very important to US history.”
More Brockway winners were coming up. Brockway sophomore Sydney Manno took first place in the exhibit category. Smith had not seen Manno’s presentation until he helped her set it up.
“Our group was really impressed with how in-depth it was, how good it was,” Smith said of Manno’s presentation. “There was a lot of work put into it. Stacking up against some of the exhibits beside her, we knew she had a really good chance at winning.”
For Manno, a little research went a long way. Even though Manno had not entered a project in last year’s event, she traveled with Richardson to check out the competition.
“It was very helpful,” Manno said. “I was able to see what other people did and got some ideas.”
Manno focused her attention on the Orphan Trains that ran from 1854 to 1929. This was a welfare operation to take orphaned kids out of crowded cities and into foster homes in more rural areas.
Brockway’s Sydney Manno and her winning presentation.
“I wanted to do my project on the foster care system,” Manno said, “but there was too much information to do on a poster. I needed something specific. I read a book on the Orphan Trains and thought that was a good way to talk about an event in the past that has connections to the foster system today.”
Another first-time qualifier, senior Molly Wise, took third place in the paper category, sending her to states. Wise wrote about the effects of the Black Death. Wise adds a new dynamic for Smith as he heads to the state competition May 10 and 11: Brockway has two people competing in the paper category and one competing in the exhibit category.
“We don’t know what to expect,” Smith said. “Last year was all new with one state qualifier. Now we have three. It’s always a good time, regardless. It’s a great experience and it’s amazing how much each of them get out of this academically.”
More about National History Day can be found at its website.
Copyright © 2024 EYT Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of EYT Media Group, Inc. is expressly prohibited.
