Twelve on to State History Day
by Kaelee Stuchlik
March 08, 2010
After the Northeastern District History Day Contest at Dana College in Blair on Saturday, March 6, twelve Pierce High School seniors have qualified for the State History Day contest. Lacey Adams, Brittney Dinkel, Kaelee Stuchlik, Dylan Arens, Adam Geiger, Joey Koehn, Kenley Silhacek, Meghan Vogt, Morgan Hahn, Amanda Hanlin, Emily Polt, and Mason Sudbeck have all qualified to compete at Nebraska Wesleyan University on Saturday, April 17 in an effort to qualify for Nationals in Washington, D.C.
In order to qualify for the state meet, competitors had to place in the top three of their category. Each of the twelve district competitors from Pierce earned either first or second place, qualifying all twelve for the state competition.
Koehn, Silhacek, and Vogt took the gold with their group exhibit board called “Innovation of Photography: The Impact and Change of Child Labor.” Dinkel also earned a first place finish with her individual exhibit board titled “Ammonia Synthesis: Innovation with a Profound Impact on War and Agriculture.” Stuchlik earned gold with her individual performance entitled “FDR’s Innovative New Deal Brought Hope and Recovery to a Desperate Nation and Continues to Impact a Nation’s Values.”
Pierce also had three runners-up at the district competition. Adams took the silver with her individual exhibit board titled “The Salk Vaccine: Innovation that Conquered the Polio Epidemic and Revolutionized Government Testing for New Medicines.” Arens and Geiger took second with their group exhibit board called “James Madison: Innovative Ideas Framed the American Republic.” Hahn, Hanlin, Polt, and Sudbeck earned a silver with their group performance entitled “Eli Whitney: Patriarch of American Innovation Invents the Cotton Gin and Advances the Industrial Revolution.”
Pierce’s National History Day sponsor Mrs. Brenda Fleecs said, “The students have worked very hard. The hard work was shown at districts because this is the first time that every district entry from Pierce High School has qualified for the state level.”
Brittney Dinkel said, “District History Day showed us that our hard work really paid off. I am very excited that everyone who went to districts has qualified for state.”
The History Day group is looking into possible dates in the coming three weeks to have an open house at Pierce High School for state History Day qualifiers to display their boards and do their performances. Please look in the paper in the coming weeks, as well as at the PHS website at www.piercepublic.org for the exhibition date. Everyone is invited to view the projects and ask the students questions to help them prepare for the state contest.
