10 head to nationals: History Day contestants all from Bourbon Co.

Local students competed in the Kansas State History Championships Saturday in which 10 students were selected to advance to the National History Day Championships. The students pictured are: (back row, left to right) Joseph Fischer, Savanna Sullivant, Mary Fischer, Madelyn Stark; (front row, left to right) Madyson McColm, Elizabeth Hall, Lauren Stark, Shelby Hutchison, and Jamie Bond. Theresa Schafer (not pictured) attended the competition and will also be advancing to the national competition. (Submitted Photo)

Southeast Kansas will send 10 students to the National History Day Championship, June 12-16 in College Park, Md. Many from the Bourbon County community attended the Kansas State History Championships at Washburn University in Topeka on Saturday.

There were 259 students representing 50 schools at the competition. This year's theme was "Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures and Consequences." Students are currently raising funds to help them attend the competition and are seeking opportunities for public presentations. All of the Southeast Kansas students qualifying for Nationals were from Fort Scott.

State champions going to nationals include:

Lauren Stark, Jamie Bond, and Shelby Hutchison, who won first place in the junior performance category in the junior division, with a drama titled, "Clarina Nichols: Pioneering Women's Rights." The girls are from Fort Scott Christian Learning Center. They also won a $50 scholarship from the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area Award. Their teacher is James Stark.

Mary Fischer and Madelyn Stark won second place in the group performance category in the senior division with a drama titled, "Solidarity: A Striking Success." This group is from Fort Scott Christian Learning Center and their sponsor is Gloria Fischer.

Madyson McColm and Elizabeth Hall won first place in the group performance category in the senior division with a performance titled "We Speak for Them: It's Normal to be Different." The girls are from Fort Scott Christian Heights and also won the $100 Lowell Milken Center Unsung Hero Award. Their teacher is Karen Schellack.

Theresa Schafer received first place in the individual performance category in the senior division with a performance titled "The Giants Wore White Gloves." Schafer is from Fort Scott Christian Heights and also received the $100 Norman and Karen Conard Award for Diversity. Her sponsor/teacher is Megan Felt of the Lowell Milken Center.

Joseph Fischer and Savanna Sullivant received first place in the group documentary category in the senior division with a documentary titled "Partners in Crime." This group is from Fort Scott Christian Learning Center and their sponsor is Gloria Fischer.

History Day encourages students to express their knowledge of and interest in history through creative and original dramatic performances, media presentations, historical papers, website design, or three-dimensional exhibit projects. They research and study for district, state and national competition throughout the entire school year.

The national competition involves the top 2,000 students from across the nation, from more than 700,000 who compete in order to advance from local to state to national competition.

The Lowell Milken Center provides critiques and helps with research for National History Day projects all over Kansas and the United States. The center also helped all of the local groups with their development of projects this year.