WINNERS OF HISTORY DAY HELD AT UNIVERSITY ARE ANNOUNCED

Three hundred eighty-six area students participated in the annual District 9 History Day last month at Southeast Missouri State University.

Richland High School of Essex won the Sweepstakes Award, which is presented to the school earning the most winning entries. Brenda Campbell, a teacher at Richland, was named the 1992 Missouri History Day Teacher of the Year.

Students who finished first, second and third in the district competition will advance to the state contest on April 17 at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Eighty-three students have qualified for the state competition.

Winners at the state contest advance to the national contest at the University of Maryland in June. More than 7,000 students from all 50 states will compete for a wide variety of scholarships, cash prizes and awards at the national competition.

A "Geography Bowl," sponsored by the geosciences department at Southeast, was a special feature of this year's History Day. Students took written examinations on their knowledge of geography and entered teams of four in group competition.

Sabrina Renka of Cape Girardeau Central Senior High School earned the highest individual score on the written test. Bernie High School won the team trophy.

History Day is sponsored annually by the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection of the University of Missouri and the history department at Southeast. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History, is the District 9 coordinator.

The event gives students the opportunity to compete in various categories: historical papers, individual projects, group projects, individual performances, group performances, individual media and group media.

The theme of this year's contest was "Communication in History: The Key to Understanding." Projects submitted in the competition were required to follow that theme.

The event drew students in grades 6-12 from schools in Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne counties. Students in grades 6-8 competed in a junior division and those in grades 9-12 in a senior division.

Area winners were:

Senior Division Individual performance, Gabe Hinkebein of Cape Central, second place.

Junior Division Historical papers, Katie Wencewicz, St. Vincent de Paul, third place; Individual Performance, Alexandra Kohlfeld, first place, and Katie Pelikan, third, both of St. Vincent's; Individual Project, Natalie Jones of St. Vincent's, third place; Group Project, Briar Helwegie and Christy Spence, St. Vincent's, first place; and Jennifer Stoverink and Jennifer Glueck, St. Vincent's, second place.