CCHS’s Prichard advances to History Day nationals

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Do you have any idea who Ola Babcock Miller was?

You might want to ask Charles City High School freshman Katie Prichard.

She might tell you that Eunice Viola “Ola” Babcock Miller became the first female Iowa secretary of state in 1935, and started the Iowa Highway Safety Patrol.

“I liked her story. She was the first female in Iowa to hold a statewide public office,” Prichard said. “She came to be respected by those who worked with her.”

Miller was the subject of Prichard’s Senior Historical Paper entitled, “Ola Babcock Miller: Circumventing Political Barriers for the Benefit of Public Safety,” which earned her designation as a National History Day national qualifier.

The year-long academic program encourages middle school and high school students to conduct original research on historical topics. They then enter their projects at local and state contests.

This was the first time since Charles City teacher Ann Prichard started helping direct National History Day projects in 2014 that a Charles City student has gotten a project to the national level.

Normally that would mean a trip to the Washington, D.C., area for the national contest at the University of Maryland, but this year the students will take part in a virtual competition instead.

Prichard — who is also Katie’s mother — saw seven of her National History Day students compete in regionals in early March and get chosen to move on to state National History Day competition in April.

Other students who competed at the state level were Emma Prichard, Brynn Roethler, Zach Sonne, Justin Falls, Jonah DeVore and Hannah DeVore. Other topics included Jack Trice, Nelson Mandela, the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Social Security Act and the discovery of DNA.

“I am so happy that this year two students who had participated in National History Day while in middle school decided to take part in the competition as high school students,” Ann Prichard said. “Not only were they self-motivated, but they were also incredibly helpful to younger students who were new to the program.”

The National History Day program includes a progressive contest cycle open to students in grades 6-12, beginning with the district contests in February and March, state contests in April and a national contest in June.

A National History Day contest has several divisions, including documentaries, papers, exhibits and performances. Entries must finish first or second at a district contest and then do the same at the state contest in late April to advance to Washington, D.C.

Every year National History Day frames the student research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for the broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The 2019-2020 theme was “Breaking Barriers in History.”

The theme was suggested by Nashua-Plainfield teacher Suzy Turner, who has taken students to national competition many times. Her students have been consistent top performers at the state and national levels.

This year was no different, as Nashua-Plainfield had several national qualifiers.

Senior national qualifiers for N-P are Bryce Anderson, Megan Bottorff and Shara Ungs for their Senior Group Exhibit entitled “Dr. Couney’s Incubator Babies: A Side Show That Saved Lives,” and Jayne Levi, for her Senior Individual Website exhibit entitled “Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Special Olympics: Finding Ability in Disability.”

Junior national qualifier for Nashua-Plainfield is Caleb Sinnwell for his Junior Individual Website exhibit entitled “When Pigs Fly: The 1960 Iowa Hog Lift Breaks Economic and Political Barriers.”

Junior alternates from Nashua-Plainfield are Grace Dietz for her Junior Individual Exhibit entitled “Dr. Jonas Salk: Breaking the Polio Barrier,” and Callahan Levi, Kaley Marlette, Paige Franzen and Kadence Huck for their Junior Group Exhibit entitled “Don’t Tinker With My Rights: Breaking Barriers to Free Expression.”

Katie Prichard said she picked Ola Babcock Miller because she wanted her topic to be focused on someone in Iowa.

“She used a personal tragedy, the death of a friend’s son in a car accident, to implement greater automobile safety measures as secretary of state,” Katie said. “She started the Iowa Highway Patrol without legislative approval, which was interesting to me.”

As part of her research, Katie interviewed Tom Miller, the Iowa attorney general. She also interviewed the son of one of the “First Fifty” men in the Iowa Highway Safety Patrol, about his dad’s experiences.