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Project earns youngsters trip to historic site
Middle school students from four area schools were recently able to learn more about what Fort Scott was like during the mid-1800s. This was thanks to a contest organized by the Fort Scott National Historic Site and other groups and a grant from the National Park Foundation.
The site, along with Friends of the Fort Scott National Historic Site organization and Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area, announced the contest in January that was sponsored as part of an NPF grant designed to connect area middle school students with the stories of the local historic site and others in the region.
"It's to get schoolchildren to our site," FSNHS Education Coordinator Barak Geertsen said.
Friends of the FSNHS President Reed Hartford said the purpose of the grant is threefold: the costs involved in bringing the students to the site last week, distribution of DVD copies of the park film to middle schools in the region and the contest.
Last Friday, schools that participated in the contest visited the site to watch a variety of Civil War education programs presented by local re-enactors. Many of the students at each school participated in an essay and multimedia contest in which they researched the stories of Fort Scott using the park's website, www.nps.gov/fosc, and DVD titled "Dreams and Dilemmas: Fort Scott and the Growth of a Nation." Contest participants and winners were recognized at the site Friday.
Participants created a written, visual or multimedia project telling a story related to the site.
Individual winners in each of the three categories -- written media, visual arts and technology -- won iPods preloaded with the park movie and other site videos.
Each project was rated on originality, size and format requirements, creativity in interpreting the story and quality of composition. The contest was announced in January and entries were due in February. Entries were judged and winners were notified in early March.
Heather Bahr, a seventh grader at Fort Scott Christian Heights, received an honorable mention certificate for her essay titled "Bleeding Kansas."
Bahr said she chose to participate in the contest because, "I like Kansas history and I like to write papers."
Asked what she learned by participating in the contest, Bahr said, "It all takes quite a bit of work. I learned more about Bleeding Kansas."
Students interested in entering a project in the contest were given a list of topics they could choose from and also had their choice of category.
More than 130 middle school students from schools that participated in the contest -- Fort Scott Christian Heights, Jayhawk-Linn in Mound City, Zion Lutheran in Independence, Kan., and Heartland Family Schools in Belton, Mo. -- made the trip.
Names of contest winners and their entries can be found online at www.nps.gov/fosc/forteachers/npf-grant.htm.