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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:

Dean Dixon, Supervisor of Historical Resources
Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court
941-741-4075

Manatee County Students Return from Florida State History Fair Victorious

May 11, 2006- Twenty-five Manatee County students recently returned from the Florida State History Fair held May 4-6, 2006 at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. They were: Sienna Bonner, Marisa Ortiz, Sara Ellinger, Tom Hauser, Ashley Laney, Adrienne Heintz, Elora Czaia, Rebekah Small from Bradenton Preparatory Academy; Emily Lenart, Stephanie Kelley, Kayla Moore from Palmetto Christian; Bryan Laurie, Amber Davis, Ashley Cooper from Bradenton Christian; Michael Martino, Tony Kimes, Mitchell Hardy from Haile Middle School; Megan Hornburger, Alexis Mitchell, Madison Chapman, Paige Johnson, all home schooled; Paige Diemer from St. Josephs; and Brianna Schmidt, Faith Pendley, Danielle Walsh from Lakewood Ranch.

All the Manatee County students earned high marks from the judges and three entries are headed to compete in Washington, DC for National History Day, June 11th - 15th at the University of Maryland. Going to National History Day are Adrienne Heintz and Ashley Laney (Bradenton Preparatory Academy) for winning the 1st place prize for Senior Group Documentary on their project, "Elizabeth Blackwell: Taking a Stand for Women in History"; Sienna Bonner (Bradenton Preparatory Academy) for winning 2nd place for Junior Individual Performance on her project, "Margaret Sanger: A Woman of Birth Control"; and Madison Chapman (home-schooled) for winning 2nd place in the Junior Papers for her paper on "Daisy Bates: Heroine of the Little Rock Nine." Other winners include Tom Hauser (Bradenton Preparatory Academy) ,4th place for Senior Individual Documentary on his project "The Men of the 8th Air Force Took a Stand Against the German War Machine"; Rebekah Small and Elora Czaia (Bradenton Preparatory Academy),4th place for Senior Group Performance for their project, "Rosie the Riveter: the Soldier who took a stand without a gun"; Bryanna Schmidt (Lakewood Ranch High School) won the American History Prize for her Senior Individual Documentary, "The History of Chocolate: Milton Hershey's Pursuit of a Dream"; Emily Lenart (Palmetto Christian School) won the Sports Heritage Prize for her Junior Project Board, "Taking a Stand on the Pitcher's Mound: The Girls of Summer and the All-American Girls' Baseball league."

These students were selected from over 1,100 local history fair participants to attend Florida State History Fair. Since the Manatee County History Fair was held in November, the students have worked to bring their county history fair entries up to state levels. This is the ninth year that Manatee County students traveled to Tallahassee for state competition.

Over 25,000 students entered in local History Fairs across the State of Florida in an effort to reach the state level. More than 500 students from throughout Florida entered the state competition. Students were judged on their original research as well as the way they presented the information they learned.
The students who went to Tallahassee are already looking forward to next year's Manatee County History Fair to be held in November and dreaming that they might once again be selected to represent Manatee County at the Florida State History Fair.

For more information about History Fair, contact the Manatee County Historical Commission, (941) 749-7165.