(Posted April 5, 2001)

Events of the past are top news today at Juniata College Wednesday, April 5, as hundreds of students from 13 middle and high schools throughout Central Pennsylvania competed in the 15th annual District History Day, held April 4 at Juniata College in Huntingdon.

First- through third-place finishers were announced in two divisions – the junior division for students in grades six through eight and the senior division for students in grades nine through 12. This year’s History Day finals will be held in May at Penn State University with the national competition planned for June in College Park, Md. at the University of Maryland.

Students competed in seven categories: historical papers (1,500-2,000 words, for individual contestants only); individual projects; group projects; individual performances; group performances; individual media presentations; and group media presentations. The theme of this year’s competition was "Frontiers in History."

Participating schools were: Forbes Road High School; Huntingdon Area High School; Huntingdon Area Middle School; Indian Valley High School; Indian Valley Middle School; Lewistown Area High School; Lewistown Area Middle School; Mount Nittany Middle School; Selinsgrove Area High School; State College Area High School; Strodes Mills Middle School; Tyrone Area High School; Tyrone Area Middle School.

Juniata College students served as judges at Wednesday’s District History Day. The top finishers in each category are attached. Awards were presented by James Lakso, Juniata College provost, in Alumni Hall in the Brumbaugh Science Center.

The Local History prize was awarded to "The Mainline Canal: How It Changed Lives in Huntingdon County," by Ali Reingold, Huntingdon Area High School, and "Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect," by Kunal Vakharia, Mount Nittany Middle School. The performance entry "Edgar Allen Poe: The Man in the Shadows," was performed by Robbie Barclay, Huntingdon Area High School, at the awards ceremony.





Pennsylvania District History Day, 2001

Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa.

April 4, 2001

"Frontiers In History"

(Results = 4 pages)

I. Historical Paper

Senior Division

First Place: "The Effect of Darwinism on Victorian Society," Ran Tu, Huntingdon Area High School

Second Place: "Girl Scouting: A New Frontier for Girls," Rachael Williamson, Huntingdon Area High School

Third Place: "John Peter Zenger: Frontiersmen for Freedom or Partisans' Pawn," Andrea Burbank, State College Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "When Justice Prevails: The Precedents of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials," Allison Zeger, Mount Nittany Middle School

Second Place: "To Aid the Masses: Jane Addams and Hull House as a Frontier in History," Paloma Frumento, Mount Nittany Middle School

Third Place: "Gene Exploration, Manipulation and Application: Biotechnology as a Frontier in History," Vineeta Agarwala, Mount Nittany Middle School



II. Individual Exhibits

Senior Division

First Place: "The Mainline Canal: How It Changed Lives in Huntingdon County," Ali Reingold, Huntingdon Area High School

Second Place: "Architecture the 'Wright' Way," Matthew Mason, Huntingdon Area High School

Third Place: "Polio Vaccine: The Frontier of Prevention," Divya Balakrishnan, State College Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "Edison's Invention of the Phonograph: The Beginning of Recorded Sound," Logan Osgood-Jacobs, Mount Nittany Middle School

Second Place: "The Frontier Development of Coal Mining in Pennsylvania," Laura Carr, Home-schooled

Third Place: "Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect," Kunal Vakharia, Mount Nittany Middle School

III. Group Projects

Senior Division

First Place: "Canals: A New Frontier in Transportation and Navigation," Malcolm Derk, Kathleen Moyer, Devon Van Horn and Scott Wetzel, Selinsgrove Area High School

Second Place: "The Spanish-American War: A Frontier in United States Foreign Policy," Kelly Sitch and Jeromie Ballreich, Huntingdon Area High School

Third Place: "Chemical Weapons and World War I: A New and Terrible Way to Fight a War," Daniel Domenick, Jim Haney, Tyler Rickards and Thad Westley, Tyrone Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "Penicillin," Zoe Yeaton, Hadley Hammers and Bethany Kozak, Huntingdon Area Middle School

Second Place: "Louis Braille: Lighting the Way for the Blind," Leonard Wilson, Katie Walker and Zach Yeaton, Tyrone Area Middle School

Third Place: "A Frontier in Fast Food," Matthew Elder, Nathan Barber, Jordan Campbell and Chris Clark, Tyrone Area Middle School



IV. Individual Performance

Senior Division

First Place: "Edgar Allen Poe: The Man in the Shadows," Robbie Barclay, Huntingdon Area High School

Second Place: "C.S.S.H.L. Hunley: The Confederacy's Underwater Bullet," Erica Rhodes, Huntingdon Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "A Universal Inner Space: Carl Jung's Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious," Samantha Bernecker, Mount Nittany Middle School

Second Place: "A Leader of Women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton," Luba Guzei, Mount Nittany Middle School

V. Group Performance

Senior Division

First Place: "The Invention of Television and its Effect on Politics," Michael Fox and Vincent Stoops, Selinsgrove Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Marie Curie," Cecilia Gingerich and Maria Browne, Mount Nittany Middle School

Second Place: "Cuban Missile Crisis," Emily Lloyd, Evan Kost, Kristen Gurekovich, Casey Miller and Sarah Russell, Tyrone Area Middle School

VI. Individual Media Presentation

Senior Division

First Place: "Athens: The Frontier of Democracy," Monisha Sujan, State College Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "E.T. Phone Home: Frontiers in Wireless Communication," Cale Plute, Mount Nittany Middle School

Second Place: "Weatherwise or Otherwise?" Janet Alley, Mount Nittany Middle School

VII. Group Media Presentation

Senior Division

First Place: "The Wireless Frontier," David Gibbons, Nick Bevins, Paul Fine and David Goldberg, State College Area High School

Second Place: "Do You Hear What I Hear: Cochlear Implants and Deaf Society," Joseph Dearing, Kelie Cummins and Erin Martin, Huntingdon Area High School

Third Place: "Joseph Priestley: A Science Pioneer in History," Caitlin King and Monica Walter, Selinsgrove Area High School

Junior Division

First Place: "Milton Hershey: A Man of Sweet Success," Molly Hanlon, Lindsey Huff, Jessica Posey and Kayla Thompson, Huntingdon Area Middle School

Second Place: "Lasers: Lighting the Way to a New Era," Kwasi Nti and David Adewami, Mount Nittany Middle School

Local History Prize, Senior Division:

"The Mainline Canal: How It Changed Lives in Huntingdon County," Ali Reingold, Huntingdon Area High School



Local History Prize, Junior Division:

"Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect," Kunal Vakharia, Mount Nittany Middle School

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.