CALHOUN STUDENTS COMPETE AT STATE'S NATIONAL HISTORY DAY COMPETITION - Five Going To Nationals

(04/11/2018)
(Front L-R) Destiny Wager, Destiney Murphy, Jaelyn Jett, and Kiley
Murphy (Back L-R) Jenna Milliron, Megan Harding and Marlee Hall

Submitted by Dan Cosgrove, Instructor

The 2018 West Virginia State National History Day (NHD) Competition took place on Saturday, April 8, 2018, at West Virginia University's Downtown Campus. Students in grades 6th - 12th can compete in 1 of 5 categories: Exhibits, Documentaries, Websites, Papers, and Performances.

Over the years, students from Calhoun have competed in Websites, Exhibits and Papers. However, they are well-known for, and more successful in, the Performance category.

Students feel they can show some of the raw emotions of historical figures in performances (and they are a lot more fun). This year, all projects by Calhoun Students were in the performance category.

Four high school and three middle school students participated, including 10th graders Megan Harding and Jenna Milliron, 11th graders Destiney Murphy and Destiny Wager, and 7th graders Marlee Hall, Jaelyn Jett, and Kiley Murphy. The high school students worked in two small groups, while the middle school students all worked individually.

Harding and Milliron won 1st place (State Champions). Their project was called, "Alice Paul, A Woman with a Vision." They were able to show two different sides to the Suffrage movement that would eventually lead to the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Murphy and Wager won 2nd place with their project, "A Classroom Divided: the One Child Policy." This was a riveting debate on China's turmoil in dealing with the burden of overpopulation over the last 75 years.

Jaelyn Jett took 2nd place in the Junior Division (Middle School) with her portrayal of Patty Hearst with, "For me, my awakening came when I was Kidnapped." Jett had to come to terms with the concept if Hearst was the victim of the Stockholm Syndrome, or a spoiled "debutante." These 5 students will represent the state of West Virginia--1st and 2nd place finishers' move on to the national competition in June at the University of Maryland.

Also competing was Marlee Hall with her portrayal of a survivor of the Jonestown Massacre, "I survived Hell!" and Kiley Murphy's portrayal of Jeanette Rankin, the only Congressional Representative to vote no to declaring war after Pearl Harbor. Her project was called, "As a Woman, I can't go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else!"

Donations to help defray the cost of going to nationals are greatly appreciated. Checks can be made out to CMHS with NHD in the comment/note line.