Missouri Humanities Council e-News | August 2009 | View Online  

Passages Masthead
Our Home Back Issues READ from the START Web ReadMOre Web Our Blog Our Wiki

National History Day Results

By Debbie Luchenbill, State Coordinator
Western Historical Manuscripts Collection

We had another wonderful year at the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest! I’m very proud of all our students.

One of our entries came in second place in her category, one of our entries won a special prize related to his topic, and one of our students won the prestigious Legacy Award! 

Kassidy Murphy, Risco R-2 Schools in Risco, took the silver medal (second place) for her junior individual documentary, Formula for a First Lady. Michael Murphy and Melanie Tipton were her sponsors. 

Mark Castera, Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, won the American Labor History Special Prize for his senior historical paper, Samuel Gompers: The New Face of Labor.  Christopher Elmore was his sponsor. 

Chi Zeng, Clayton High School in Clayton, won the Legacy Award from the Creativity Foundation for outstanding service, creative promise, model student behavior, and participation in NHD.  He competed in the national contest this year, with Dee Luo, in the senior web site category with the entry, Henry Ford: Grabbing History by the Wheel.  Janet Baldwin was their sponsor.  Chi won first place in senior web site in 2008 for his entry, Nixon’s 1972 Visit to China:  Compromise Across a 23-Year Ocean of Conflict.

In addition, six other Missouri entries made it to the final round of national competition (14 entries per category): 

Rachel Hauser, Holy Infant School in Ballwin, placed 4th in the nation for her junior web site, Marie Curie: Researcher and Role Model (Bob Stevens, sponsor)

Eric Peer, Home School in Carthage, placed 7th in the junior individual exhibit category for his entry, Julia Lathrop and Better Babies (he also won Outstanding State Entry, junior division) (Julie Peer, sponsor)

Emily Duncan, Liberty Junior High School in Liberty, also placed 7th in the nation for her junior web site, Rebel Rose: A Life of Espionage and Secrecy (Inga Nordstrom-Kelly, sponsor)

Bradley Dice, also of Liberty Junior High School in Liberty, placed 10th in the nation for his senior web site, Buckminster Fuller: The Actions and Legacies of a Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist (he also won Outstanding State Entry, senior division) (Inga Nordstrom-Kelly, sponsor)

Ashwath Kumar, Smithton Middle School in Columbia, placed 12th in the nation for his junior individual performance, Jawaharlal Nehru:  His Influence on India today (Tom Prater, sponsor)

Brittany Golden and Andrew Schesser, Carthage High School in Carthage, took 14th place in the senior group performance category for their entry, The Actions of Annie White Baxter: A Lasting Legacy for Women’s Suffrage (Kathleen Swift, sponsor). 

In all, 24 of Missouri’s 33 participating entries placed in the top half of all national participants, with another within one place of that mark. 

We should all be very proud of our excellent students!

[Return to Passages Front Page]

Also in This Issue:

Support the Council

Giveness Logo Purchases from online retailers Amazon.com, eBay, and others yield a donation to the Council with no cost to you. The retailer contributes a portion of its profits on each transaction when you shop through giveness.com/mohumanities