Wydown Middle wins big in History Day meet

Eighth-grader Zachary Praiss of Wydown Middle School won first in the Region 5 Missouri History Day competition for the third year in a row. He and partner won in the junior group documentary category.

Kids in Wydown won first in five of the eighth categories in the Region 5 meet earlier this year. Teacher Janet Baldwin supervises the kids at Wydown.

Zachary Praiss

All regional winners will compete in the State History Day meet in Jefferson City on April 12. Winners at state earn spots in the national meet later this year.

Fourteen-year-old Zachary won his way to state both in 2006 and 2007 with solo entries.But, this year, he teamed with classmate Benjamin Goldsmith, who was entering for his first year.

But, Zach still has to go some to match his older brother, Aaron, now a student at Clayton High School. Aaron did win a berth in nationals while at Wydown.

Apoorva Sharma

Thirteen-year-old Apoorva Sharma was another Wydown regional winner. Apoorva won first in the junior website category. This is the first year the state website winner will get a chance to move to the nationals.

(For a list of all the Region 5 winners, see sidebar below.)

Zach and Ben won the junior group documentary category with a 10-minute film entitled, "Evolving Conflict with No Compromise in Sight." It tells about conflicts in teaching evolution in schools up to the present day.

Benjamin Goldsmith

Ben said he initially favored making a movie about the current battle in professional baseball over the use of "growth enhancing" hormones. Currently, that centers around baseball players such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

All entries in this year's History Day competition explored the theme of Conflict and Compromise.

Zach said his idea came from his science study last year about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. The two boys looked at the battle from the standpoint of what kids learn while in school.

They started with the famous 1925 trial where John Scopes was defended by famed lawyer William Jennings Bryan. The trial was nicknamed "The Scopes Monkey Trial."

The kids' approach was to show how the battle over teaching of evolution has changed over the years. Zach said, "This is an evolving issue."

Currently, the battles center on those who favor teaching Darwin's evolution and those who look for an "intelligent design" to explain the development of man and his universe.

Zach said those who favor the "intelligent design" theory feel there are things in the universe that are "just too perfect" to be left to the "chance" mutations of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" ideas.

Zach and Ben didn't attempt to "prove" one theory or the other. Their documentary rather explores both sides, through conflicting interviews and other research. Zach said, "We tried to be as balanced as we could. We didn't include any of our own opinions."

Both the boys said one of the hardest jobs in making the documentary was condensing the hours of interviews and other research into a 10-minute film. Ben said, "We had one interview with a rabbi that lasted 56 minutes. We ended up using two quotes that were a total of 10 seconds."

Zach said the two did most of their film editing at his home. He said, "The main reason was that I had a Mac computer at home and could use its iFilm software."

Both boys said they learned a lot by doing their documentary.

Ben said, "I didn't even know the controversy about evolution and intelligent design was even going on."

Zach said he's learned a lot from each of his History Day entries. His first entry dealt with the court suit by St. Louisan Minny Liddell. Her battle led to a federal court decision that integrated both St. Louis city and county schools.

His other winning entry looked at the educational changes that came after the Russians launched their first space rocket, Sputnik. The teaching of science and math expanded greatly as the U.S. sought to catch up in space.

Apoorva said he was born in India and came to the U.S. with his family when he was five. The family moved to St. Louis when he was in 7th grade when his father got a position at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

He said he didn't want to "just write about wars" to meet the theme of conflict and compromise. "I like the subject of space so I decided to deal with the competition between Russian and America in space."

After Russia launched Sputnik, then-President John Kennedy challenged the U.S. to catch up and beat the Russians to the moon.

"I focused my website mostly on the early days of Sputnik and America's response," he said. Then, he did a summary at the end to bring the situation to the present.

Apoorva said he also had lots of trouble compressing all his research material into the word restrictions of the contest. "They allowed only 1,200 words and that included the headlines and everything," he said.

He said his website can't be accessed on the Internet because he doesn't have a domain name.

All three of the boys said they'd plan on going to nationals, if they win in the state competition. That's even though the travel costs are paid by the kids and their families.

Of course, Ben hopes he has a good talking point at home because his family already paid for his brother's trip several years ago.

Region V Missouri History Day winners Here are the 2008 Region V Missouri History Day junior state delegates. They will compete April 12 in Jefferson City for the chance to go to the national History Day competition. Junior Paper: 1st, Ben Colagiovanni, Wydown Middle School, "Cold War, Hot Topics." 2nd, Scott Floerke, Wydown Middle School, "The Pusan Perimeter." 3rd, Aishwarya Yadama, Wydown Middle School, "Aung San Suu Kyi." Junior Individual Exhibit: 1st, Matt Parasch, Holy Infant School, "The Conflict and Compromise of the Missouri Compromise." 2nd, Rachel Faraci, Holy Infant School, "The Black Hawk War." 3rd, Lucas Hernandez, Holy Infant School, "The Texas War for Independence." Junior Group Exhibit: 1st, Dee Luo and Xioya Wu, Wydown Middle School, "Twin Twain." 2nd, Ethan Payne and Collin Sullivan, Holy Infant School, "The Separation of Germany." 3rd, Elizabeth Mansfield and Mikayla Mooney, Holy Infant School, "Truman and the Atomic Bomb." Junior Individual Performance: 1st, Gabrielle Lachtrup, Wydown Middle School, "Jefferson Davis." 2nd, Maggie Hogan, Holy Infant School, "The Montgomery Bus Boycott." 3rd, Alexandria Clemens, St. Margaret of Scotland School, "Read All About It." Junior Group Performance: 1st, Caroline Fischer and Josie Ruggeri, St. Raphael the Archangel School, "Olveta Culp Hobby." 2nd, Anne Ortwerth and Claire Rainford, St. Raphael the Archangel School, "Uncommon Spirit: Women of the Civil War." 3rd, Allison Knopp and Anna Marshall, St. Raphael the Archangel School, "The Boston Tea Party." Junior Individual Documentary: 1st, Allison Magoc, St. Raphael the Archangel School, "Fannie Lou Hamer." 2nd, Jocelyn Lee, Wydown Middle School, "The Little Rock Nine." 3rd, Caitlyn Slattery, Holy Infant School, "The Raw Deal: The NIRA." Junior Group Documentary: 1st, Zachary Praiss and Benjamin Goldsmith, Wyndown Middle School, "Evolving Conflict with No Compromise in Sight." 2nd, Sarah Hogland, Anna Reuther and Kristen Parker, Holy Infant School, "Protecting the Home Front in WWII." 3rd, Laura Bleeke and Rosalin Cuneo, Wydown Middle School, "Marie Antoinette: Her Lack of Compromise that Led to the French Revolution." Junior Web Site: 1st, Appoorva Sharma, Wyndown Middle School, "Sputnik." 2nd, Katrina Hauser, Holy Infant School, "Japanese American Internment." 3rd, Kelsey Raidt, Holy Infant School, "The Battle of the Bulge."