History scholars win top honors in state

Paige Stephens (left), Rebeccah Lovegren, Nolan Tichener, Skye Scott, Kelsey White, Rachel Lovegren and Lauren White. photo provided

Seven students from Black Butte School in Camp Sherman won top honors at the state history competition held April 17, at Willamette University. The finalists will travel to the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland, June 13-17, to represent Oregon.

National History Day is an innovative program in which young people learn about issues, ideas, people and events of the past. Using their own research, students create history projects based on a theme while acquiring in-depth historical knowledge, practicing critical thinking and mastering communication skills.

"With a curriculum emphasis on history and the use of primary resources, we engage students in an active study of the past," said Toni Foster, head teacher at Black Butte School. "We help foster critical thinking and research abilities, which are skills the students can apply to all subject areas."

Eighth graders Nolan Titchener and Kelsey White each created a 10-minute video documentary. White explored the impact of television on the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

The key to her primary research was a 20-minute oral interview with Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who led the Selma, Alabama, civil rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. Lewis recalls his near-death experience that day when he was beaten on the bridge. Lewis also states that were it not for the eye of the television lens, the marchers' cause would not have advanced as it did.

Titchener's video explores the impact of Indian Boarding Schools though the eyes of a child. During a recent trip to the East Coast, Nolan visited Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the home of the first Indian boarding school. His documentary captures the original buildings, as well as the many tombstones representative of the children who died while institutionalized for several years at a time.

Rebeccah Lovegren's 2,500-word essay examines the Wright Brothers flight and its impact on the world both commercially and militarily. She explores the thesis that many others contributed to the notion of flight.

Lauren White, Rachel Lovegren, Skye Scott, and Paige Stephens took first-place honors with an exhibit that explores the encounter on the Yorktown Battlefield and how the American victory there in the Revolutionary War led to the exchange of European Enlightenment ideas about human rights.

These students recently traveled to Philadelphia to see where the ideals of inalienable rights began to grow in the form of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The cost of travel and lodging for the trip to Maryland is about $ 1,000 per student. Parents and the Camp Sherman community are now engaged in fund-raising to help these students with their travel expenses. Upcoming events will be listed in The Nugget. To donate, send a check to Black Butte School Foundation, P.O. Box 102, Camp Sherman, OR 97730.