Seven students who participated in the regional history fair and then went on to the Utah State History Day competition have earned the chance to compete at the national level this summer in Washington D.C.
Taking first place in the senior division (grades 9-12) in the group performance category at state were Tyler Pierce, Mersedez Clifford, Katie Snow, Tessa Atwood and Bethany Prettyman.
Their performance based on the Culper Spy Ring that aided the patriots during the Revolutionary War was the best of the competition.
Espionage
The Culper Ring was a spy operation organized by American Major Benjamin Tallmadge. He was acting on orders from General George Washington during the summer of 1778 during British occupation of New York City.
The enactment drew rave reviews from state judges. A year ago, a group with many of the same students competed at the national level with a performance based on William Shakespeare. Their performance can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RGmm CmpE&feature=youtu.be
In the senior category for historical paper, James Bryner took third with his papers topic being Pierre Charles Alexandre-Louis and the Evaluation of Bloodletting. Advisor Chris Sweeney said that this is one of the hardest categories to place in at state, much less get the chance to compete at nationals. In the early 1800s bloodletting was a standard method for treating some illnesses. Louis published a paper in 1828 which demonstrated that the use of bloodletting for pneumonia was ineffective. Louis’ approach was strongly resisted by doctors at the time, who were unwilling to wait for tests to determine if current treatments were effective, or discard treatments if they were found ineffective.
“I don’t remember us ever having anyone place as state in the historical paper category,” he said during a presentation of the winners at the Carbon School District Board meeting on May 10. “It is an extremely hard category to win in.”
Shannon Baker also presented an individual document on Samuel Gompers called Standing Together and won second place at state. Gompers was the founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). This also qualifies to go to nationals this summer. This document and can be found at https://www.wevideo.com/view/868106144
All of the students that are going to nationals attend Carbon High School.
In a special award, called the Charles Redd Center Awards for History of the American West, Landen Anderson of Mont Harmon Middle School won. The exhibit was concerning Utah Coal Strikes.