Folks at Treasure Mountain International School are looking to change history.
So to speak.
Students of history teacher Kevin McIntosh is again having his students create elaborate visual projects which focus on some historical movement such as civil rights or moment like the Cuban missile crisis. The displays involve art, research, and essay writing.
“It’s dynamic because it brings them a wide variety of choices and a variety of student talent,” McIntosh said. “These projects allow students to use their talents to create something that deals with history.”
The projects will enter into competition for National History Day, held in March. Students first compete at the school level, then judges send them on to a regional level, then state, and finally a national level at the University of Maryland in late spring.
Only the displays that finish in first or second place at the state level proceed to nationals. Last year, Treasure Mountain students finished in third place.
“We missed it by that much,” McIntosh said, holding his fingers an inch apart. He added, “I’m very proud of all the students. This is something I look forward to every year.”
Charlie Actor studied the assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, and recreated the one that came closest to succeeding with action figures he bought at the store. Col. Claus von Stauffenberg put a bomb in a briefcase, then left it in a meeting with Hitler and other Nazi leaders.
“This sounded the most interesting to my group,” Actor said. “Not many people know about it. We barely found any books on it.” coincidence, the briefcase was removed from the table and the explosion failed to kill Hitler. Actor worked on the project with fellow students Matthew Wolbach, Peter Johnson, John Dwyer, and Audrey Kohout. The projects were on display in Treasure Mountain’s library Thursday evening for a parent and judging night. “It was inspiring. “It was really cool,” said Ashley Newhall on Thursday afternoon. “We’re being judged tonight. We get to go to state if the judges like it.” Student projects
The history projects cover a wide variety of topics. Courtney Luttmer said about the project, “Even though it was a big pain, I learned a lot.” She commented that McIntosh is “a good teacher.” “This project was so long,” said Tori Gagnon. “It was fun. It really did take forever. Our parents got so sick of us meeting at our houses”
Gagnon’s group chronicled Jackie Robinson’s career in professional baseball. “We thought Jackie Robinson was really brave in taking a stand for African-Americans and being brave enough to be the first black man to play in the major leagues,” Gagnon said. Laurel Van’tHof, Sarah Boline, and Mary Allen researched the history of the Berlin Wall. Van’tHof said, “The Berlin Wall was important because it divided East and West Berlin.” (The girls had to pause to double-check which was communist.) “I enjoyed learning about how when it was up and all of the different kinds of graffiti that was on the wall and stories of people who attempted to climb over the wall,” Boline said. “If I was separated from my family, I think I would try to get over the wall, because I would have a hard time being without my family,” Allen said. Kyle Matt studied the education and integration efforts of Blackfeet Indians: schools that taught them in American style and those which take an approach traditional to their culture. “They’re trying to teach the Indians to be white people,” he said. His great-great-great-uncle was a Blackfoot Indian. “I know more about my relatives and their past and who I am.” Alex Anderson studied the Cuban missile crisis. “It was the closest the world has every gotten to thermo-nuclear war,” Anderson said. Jessica Hinrichs studied the last queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani. “I went to Hawaii once and thought that it was a very interesting story how the last queen tried to keep Hawaii’s original culture,” Hinrichs said.
Mary Hart and her friends studied Bob Marley. “Most people get the wrong impression about him,” she said. “There’s so much more to it (his music). Through songs, he tried to get peace and love.” Alison Madrovsky added, “It was fun because we actually like the topic. We found something that people don’t know about.”
Annika Karlsen’s group studied Malcolm X. “We decided to do him because no one knew much about who he was,” Karlsen said. “I thought it was interesting how he was in jail for 10 years and then became one of the greatest civil rights leaders aside from Martin Luther King Jr.” Austin Harris added, “It sounded interesting and I didn’t really know about it. I learned a lot of stuff.” Sarah Morrison’s group researched the Live Aid rock benefit concert. “I already knew a lot about Live Aid because I was in London when it was taking place,” she said. “I thought it would fit what we were supposed to do for the project perfectly because it was a group of people taking a stand against poverty and showing that you can make a difference” Erin McMahon added, “There was a lot of information that we didn’t know. It was a lot of fun to do and work with your friends.”
Danya Bush studied Jane Goodall and the chimps. “I’m an animal lover,” Bush said. “It made me really wanna help them (the chimps). There are more unfortunate beings out there and we shouldn’t just focus on ourselves.” Contributing: Interns David Lambert and Kendall Fisher