St. Raphael kids win state history award

A rare combination of kids led to a big win in the 2002 Missouri State History Competition for St. Raphael the Archangel School in St. Louis.

Eighth grader Megan Wilkerson teamed with sixth graders Michelle McAtee and Angela Beffa to win first place in the Junior Group Performance category. They won out over 16 teams from across Missouri.

The kids earned a trip to the national history competition at the University of Maryland in College Park. The nationals were June 9-13.

Social studies teacher Christy Connor said, "That's the first time I've ever mixed grades." Ordinarily, kids from the same grade make up the three-member teams.

The kids picked a difficult subject for their performance project. They researched, wrote and then performed a skit about Dorothea Dix. She lived in the 1800s and is credited as a pioneer in treatment of the mentally ill in the U.S.

Fourteen-year-old Megan said, "Angela and Michelle had been reading about Dorothea and decided it was so neat that a woman did this instead of a man."

Twelve-year-old Michelle said, "She (Dix) was suffering from tuberculosis but was still able to help the mentally ill."

Twelve-year-old Angela said, "I used to be scared of mental illness. But, now, I've learned there's no reason to be afraid."

Dix was a New Englander whose grand-father had been a doctor. Megan said, "Dorothea knew, that as a woman, she couldn't be a doctor. But, she wanted to do something in the health field."

Much of Dorothea's work in mental health was done in a hospital in Raleigh, N.C.

The kids researched Dorothea's life at different libraries in the St. Louis area. In addition, they toured the state hospital on Arsenal Ave.

After their historical research, the three St. Raphael students decided to tell their story as a play. They not only wrote the script, but designed the sets and acted out all the parts. They used costumes to depict life in those different times.

All of the kids said they didn't know much U.S. history before starting their project. But, Megan said Ms. Connor "made it fun to learn about history."

Angela admits her mother "pushed me into doing the history project." She said about all she knew of history was what was in the school's textbooks.

Teacher Connor said the girls got the state judges' attention for having a simple stage setting, using a plain black backdrop. They went behind the backdrop to change costumes between scenes.

The play started in present-day America and then flashed-back to Dorothea Dix's time in the 1800s. Treatment of the mentally ill in those days seems harsh by current-day standards. Dorothea tried to bring more humane treatment to people in her day.

As the play ends, the kids ask the question of how future Americans will think of today's treatment of mentally ill. Will it seem as tragic as we think of treatment in the mid-1800s?

The families of the St. Raphael kids treated their trip to the national history finals as a vacation time.

Megan said, "My mom and grandmother are going. We're going to see the Vietnam Memorial with all the names and also the Smithsonian Museum." College Park, Md., is near Washington, D.C.

She will be a freshman at Bishop DuBourg High School next fall.

Michelle said her father, mother and sister were going. "This is going to be our summer vacation too," she said.

For Angela, the group of family supporters will include her parents, her grand-parents and others. "It's going to be a really big group," she said.

Michelle and Angela will be in seventh grade at St. Raphael's next fall.

The girls aren't sure what part history will play in their future career plans.

For Angela and Michelle, they hope to have a future in the entertainment industry. Michelle said she'd like to be an actor.

Angela said, "I want to be a singer so bad." She has been a member of the St. Louis Symphony's Children's Chorus for the last year. "I'm planning to do that again next year," she added.