History Day Projects Qualify for State Contest

On Saturday, March 6, 2010 thirty-three students from Wisner-Pilger Jr./Sr. High School competed in the District Competition of National History Day. It was a very successful day for the Gators. Nineteen projects were entered into the contest. Fourteen of those projects will move on to the next level.

The qualifying projects are:

Junior Group Exhibit

1^st Place:

Lucas Bradfield and Colten Vahle – Barbed Wire: Devil’s Rope or Rancher’s Dream

2^nd Place:

Amanda Murphy and Kristyn Schlickbernd – The Polio Vaccine: A Cure for an Epidemic

3^rd Place:

Samantha Liermann and Kate Heller – The Fight for the Vote: Women’s Suffrage

Junior Individual Performance

1^st Place:

Michael Liermann – Nuremberg Trials

Junior Group Performance

2^nd Place: Dalton Mohfeld and Koston Rabe – The Pony Express: An Innovative Communication for the American West

3^rd Place: Sierra Urwiler and Kalin Hingst – Flappers: The New Women of the 1920s

Junior Interpretive Websites

1^st Place: Dean Peterson and Jeremiah Ohlman – The Enigma Machine

2^nd Place: Colton Knust and Kyle Crippen - The Unbroken Code: The Navajo Code Talkers

3^rd Place: Joey Beacom, Chase Ott and Christian Stastny - Leonardo da Vinci

Junior Individual Exhibits

1^st Place: Sarah Herzinger – The Cotton Gin: Expanding Production and Slaver

2^nd Place: Erica Lewis – The Milking Machine: Opening the Door to Today’s Dairy Industry

3^rd Place: Eve Ortmeier - The Birth of Modern Dance: Isadora Duncan

Senior Group Performance

1^st Place: Kyra Greve, Cassie Kerkman, Nathan Stastny, and Kendra Wolverton

The Nebraska Plan: The 1942 Scrap Metal Drive

Senior Individual Projects

3^rd Place: Luke Evans – The Iron Ring: The Welsh Castles of Edward I

In addition to the places earned, there were special prizes awarded to Wisner-Pilger students. For he project on the Navajo Code Talkers, students were awarded the Black Elk/Neihardt Park Board for the outstanding presentation on Native American History. The boys were presented with a certificate and a copy of the book Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt.

A special award was presented to Eve Ortmeier. She won the Washington County Museum Award for outstanding presentation on Women in History. Eve was presented with a certificate and a gift certificate.