Katy Connor with her winning history exhibit.

Fourteen-year-old Katy Connor represented Missouri in last month's National History Day competition in Maryland.

Katy won a trip to the nationals with her history exhibit about the first American woman in space. The exhibit was named: "Reach for the Stars: Sally Ride Leading Women into Space."

One of the highlights of the trip was the display of her exhibit in the Smithsonian's Aerospace Museum in Washington, D.C. "That was really neat," she said.

During that exhibit, she was interviewed by a television reporter. The interview was broadcast by Channel 4 in St. Louis. "My grandfather taped the interview so I could see it," she said.

It was natural for Katy to pick Sally Ride as a subject for her history display. Ride was an engineer for NASA in the 1980s and Katy plans on engineering as her career.

Ride made two space flights. One was in 1983 and the other in 1984.

Katy said she took about a year to put her history exhibit together. Much of the time was spent searching for information. She didn't just look at Ride's accomplishments. She also checked out the history of women in aviation.

One research effort was a letter to Dr. Ride, who now teaches physics at Stanford University in California.

"I got two signed autographs from her. I used one in my exhibit but the other one is safe in my closet at home," she said.

Katy said the accomplishments of women in engineering, aviation and space travel make it easier for kids like her to look to professional careers.

"I heard a quote from Dr. Ride that about one-third of the engineers at NASA were women when she was there. I imagine it might be half by now," Katy said.

"That's good for my chances in engineering," she added.

This spring, Katy graduated from eighth grade at St. Raphael the Archangel School in South County. In the fall, she will be a freshman at Rosati Kane High School.

After high school, Katy wants to go to the University of Missouri-Rolla. That school's main focus is on engineering.

Although she gained the nationals in the history competition, her favorite contests are in math. "I enjoyed that the best even though I didn't place," she said. Katy also has entered speech competitions.

Her interest in math will be important as she pursues her engineering career. She wants to be a chemical engineer. She said her school grades are As and B+s.

Lots of kids at St. Raphael School enter competitions. Katy said 32 students entered the history competition from her school alone. She won her national trip during the National History Day competition last April in Columbia, MO.

About 2,000 kids from all over the country took part in the National History Day competition June 10-14 in College Park, Maryland. The University of Maryland hosted the event.

Each contestant made a 15-minute presentation to the judges. Katy said she didn't know her final ranking. "But, I know I didn't place in the Top 10," she said.

She was asked what she learned most about Sally Ride during her research project. "I learned how busy she was and how she kept up with everything," Katy said.

Those will be good lessons for her to remember as she goes after an engineering career.

Katy and her parents, John and Christy Connor, took eight days to make the trip to the nationals. They drove to Maryland and back. One of the days was a "free day" from the actual competition.

Katy said the family took in some nature sites on that day. "My parents are nature people so we went to Cypress Swamp, Flag Pond and Solomon's Island. Those are near Chesapeake Bay in Maryland," she said.

She spent part of her time looking for shark's teeth.

Although she didn't find any teeth, she did get a big surprise during her search. "I almost stepped on a big old female horseshoe crab. That about scared me to death," Katy said.