Throughout the years, students in Chris Lindley’s advanced US History classes have been taking on the Night at the Museum project, and on May 5, 21 students once again displayed their projects for the community to see.
“It began as a way to keep seniors going when the class was only open to seniors. However, it is designed to teach that history is not just dates and facts, but asking the question of why and interpreting that information to an audience. It is about ‘doing’ history instead of just learning about history,” said Lindley.
This assignment has been continuously successful for 22 years, and each year, the projects are based around a new theme. This year’s theme was “The Eagle and the Globe,” which centered around the interventions between the U.S. and other nations, mainly in the 20th Century.
The winners were junior Tori Patton, who took first place, junior Chad Sullivan, who placed second, and Kylie Flannery, who earned third place.
Patton’s project was about US investments in the Mexican Revolution, and she felt the most challenging part was using creative ways to captivate her audience.
“To prepare for my project, I researched for a week before and made an annotated bibliography to get my sources together for the information that I was going to use. And then to create my project, I brainstormed ideas with my mom and sister, and then my mom helped me put it all together,” said Patton.
Patton did such an exceptional job that the judges awarded her first place.
Sullivan’s project was the Clandestine Apparatus, about the CIA and its involvement after WWII. He felt the most challenging part was the time crunch over the weekend to ensure everything was done and looked good.
“I felt like I did very well considering I did my whole project in a shorter time period,” said Sullivan.
For Flannery, her third-place finish came as a surprise.
“I didn’t really feel confident enough but when some of the people there were connecting with me about what I was saying it made me feel a little better. I didn’t expect to get anything either but when I found out I got third for best of show it made me feel better about myself,” said Flannery.
In addition to the placing, two additional awards were given.
The first award was the Hoosier Heritage Award given by Lindley for the project’s connection to Indiana. Junior Maddi Vernon won the award for her “Equality of Treatment” project because it had a local connection to Washington County native John Hay. The second award was a People’s Choice Award, which the museum visitors selected, and Patton also won it.
