2 Columbus area teens win National History Day gold medals

Two local teenagers won gold medals at the National History Day competition.

Rising ninth-graders Genevieve Haskins of Manchester and Eleanor McCoy of Columbus teamed together and finished first in the Junior Group Documentary category, one of 18 categories in the June 12-16 event at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., where nearly 3,000 students from all 50 states and several other countries gathered.

Their documentary, “When Ballet Came to America,” is about how the Ballets Russes 1916-17 tour of the United States influenced the country’s culture. Their entry included a 10-minute video, a written report, annotated bibliography and explanation of their source material.

A panel of judges interviewed them. After winning their preliminary round, another panel of judges reviewed their work and their documentary was shown to the public.

Genevieve, 13, the daughter of Valerie and William “Kannon” Haskins of Manchester, is home-schooled. Eleanor, 14, the daughter of Claire and Henry McCoy, completed the International Baccalaureate program at Richards Middle School and will attend Columbus High School. The girls are students in the Dance Conservatory at Columbus State University and perform with the Columbus Ballet.

In addition to their medals, Genevieve and McCoy were named National Endowment for the Humanities Scholars and received $1,000.

National History Day is considered the most prestigious historical research competition for students in middle school and high school, attracting more than 600,000 participants who compete for thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes annually.

Each state’s top two finishers in each category qualified for the national event; the third-place finishers were alternates. The other local students who qualified for nationals are Chloe Boyd of St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School, Cassidy Fine of Richards Middle School, Angela Howard and Jessica Kahmann of Columbus High School and Avery Sutherland St. Luke School. The local alternates were Madison McDaniel of St. Luke and Luke Paul, Olivia Paul, Dajanae Tarver, Curtis Walker and Elisabeth White of Columbus High.

Hollie Queener of St. Anne-Pacelli is Georgia’s recipient of the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award for National History Day.

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 2:10 PM with the headline "2 Columbus area teens win National History Day gold medals."