Students chase history

Paul Head. Matt Adams, Tiffany Adams, Emily Sims, all of Camp Sherman and Linda Nagle of Sisters, have earned a place at the National History Day competition to be held in College Park, Maryland, June 13-17.

The students took honors at the state History Day competition at Willamette University on Saturday, April 17.

The National History Day theme, "Science, Technology, Invention in History inspired Paul Head to produce a 10 minute documentary titled "The Science of Little Boy: The Impact of Radiation Disease.

Head traveled to Japan over spring break, visited Hiroshima, and interviewed Japanese victims of the atomic bomb. His History Day presentation focused on the science of the invention and an analysis of its effects on the people of Japan and the world. This will be Paul's third visit to the national event, his first in the high school division.

Matt Adams, Tiffany, Adams, Emily Sims, and Linda Nagle developed a 10 minute dramatic presentation on the Golden Hour, a concept conceived by Dr. R. Adams Cowley, a thoracic surgeon.

Dr. Cowley's life work and research centered around understanding the effects of shock and the dying process in trauma patients. The doctor's Golden Hour work revealed that trauma victims are subject to having the mitochondria in each of their cells suffocate on metabolic wastes without adequate oxygen profusion.

Cowley developed his theory from working in a dog lab and in a death lab where he monitored patients other doctors had all but given up for dead. Cowley's research lead to the "scoop and run concept used by ambulance and medical helicopter crews today. Cowley formed the first shock-trauma hospital in the world in Baltimore.

In the drama, the four teenagers played role of Dr. Cowley, his nurse, a newscaster and an EMT.