News
Sheridan Student Wins State History Competition, Heads to Nationals
On May 3, Sharie Shada, Regional Wyoming History Day Coordinator, announced that a Sheridan Student, Liberty Skalicky Won the Wyoming state, ‘National History Day’ competition, and now qualifies for the national competition.
Every year, students from around the United States and several foreign countries, in grades six through twelve, compete in the National History Day program. This is a history research project competition designed to foster and encourage students’ love of history.
In Wyoming, regional competitions are held in March to qualify participants for the state contest hosted by the University of Wyoming every April. A national theme is chosen, students decide what topic they want to research, and then create a project in one of five categories. They can build a physical exhibit, write a research paper, create a documentary, perform a play, or develop a website.
This year’s theme was “Turning Points in History.” Each participant had to demonstrate how their topic, whether it was an idea, event, or action, caused some form of change in history. Sheridan Junior High School seventh grader Liberty Skalicky took this year’s theme to heart and developed a performance for which she received first place in her category, at both the regional competition in Sheridan and the state competition in Laramie.
Skalicky’s project was titled “Anna and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851,” about her own great-great-great grandmother, Anna Fields, who lived at the fort as a child. In order to conduct more in-depth research for this project, Liberty traveled to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and spoke with National Park Service staff and rangers. From them, she not only learned more about the history of the fort, but also received primary resources her family had not seen before, such as a photograph of Anna and her classmates, and Anna’s attendance records from the Officer’s Children’s School.
She said she chose this project “because my great-great-great grandmother lived in Fort Laramie, and I thought it would be cool to portray [Anna] in memory of her, and to include her in my life even though I never met her.”
Skalicky is now preparing for the National Competition in June, held at the University of Maryland, College Park. There, she will compete against students from across the United States, U.S. Territories, Department of Defense schools in the Atlantic, and international schools located in China and Korea. She is excited to be one of the few students representing Wyoming in the National Competition, and to be around people who love history as much as she does.
If anyone would like to help support her fundraising efforts to attend the competition, they can purchase flower bulbs and seed mats until May 17th.
If anyone would like to help support her fundraising efforts to attend the competition, they can purchase flower bulbs and seed mats until May 17th online at:
https://abc.launchraise.com/FundraiserHomeInfo/0/FFWYYB.
Please enter “Liberty Skalicky” as the member you are supporting. Orders will arrive at the beginning of June and then be delivered. Alternatively, if you’d like to donate without ordering flowers, an account in Liberty Skalicky’s name has been set up at the Citco Federal Credit Union in Sheridan. Please call Regional Coordinator Sharie Shada at 307-275-6120 or Liberty’s coach, Lisa Austin, at 307-797-2493 with any questions.
Photos by Lisa Austin.
