Two Peters Township students will represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the U.S. competition of National History Day. The event is slated for June 9-13 at the University of Maryland in College Park. Eighth graders Angela Roberts and Shreya Sharma earned this distinction by taking second place at a competition at Cumberland Valley High School earlier this month. They students among 14 Peters Township youngsters who represented western Pennsylvania at the state contest, an event that drew more than 700 students in grades six through 12.
Roberts and Sharma earned second place for place with their junior division group performance titled “The Sound of Silence: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.” It chronicled the story of environmentalist pioneer Rachel Carson and her fight to bring awareness to the effect of DDT and other chemicals on our environment. In addition to writing a 10-minute presentation, Roberts and Sharma created their own props and extensively researched the life of Carson in order to provide an accurate portrayal of her in the performance.
In addition, two students finished in third place at the state level. Senior Jeff Bergman earned his place with a senior division paper titled “The Gilded Illusion of Bretton Woods: The Turning Point in Global Monetary Policy.” Eighth grader Olivia Castellone earned her place in the junior individual exhibit with her 6-foot tall museum-type exhibit titled “Sex, Sports, and Segregation: Title IX in Action.” Also, three other projects made the state run-offs, placing them in the top six projects in their category. Seniors Joshua Bowman, Joshua Larimer, and Jason Lee created a senior group documentary titled “Fighting Lead with Lies: How Deception was the Turning Point for Allied Victory in Europe.” Freshman Nick Wolk created a senior individual exhibit he called “The Battle of Actium: Rome Versus Rome.” Additionally, Eighth graders Danielle Vulcano and Adianna Williams created a junior group exhibit “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down this Wall!”
All entries adhered to the 2013 theme of “Turning Points in History.”
The two Peters Township winners will now join more than 3,000 students expected to participate in the U.S. competition of National History Day.
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