Bighorn Bulletin

Four Oasis Students Qualify for NHD Nationals in Maryland

Four Oasis Academy students earned first place for their National History Day projects at the state competition at the end of March and will now advance to the national competition. Jacob Pilarski, Sawyer Schank, Annie Sorensen and Kinsley Viera will travel to Maryland in June.

The students have now won at three levels of competition — beginning with the school competition, then regionals in Reno, and most recently, state.

For the competition, students were tasked with creating a project centered on the National History Day theme of rights and responsibilities. They were allowed to choose the topic and select how they presented their project — through exhibit, website, documentary, performance or paper.

Pilarski chose to write a paper titled “Snap Decision” in which he discusses the Soviet Union and United States during the Cold War Cuban Missile Crisis.

“This is something that I’d come across a few years ago,” Pilarski said. “Ethics is a topic that has interested me for a while. The person my project is about is Vasili Arkhipov and the critical decision he made.”

Arkhipov was a Soviet naval officer who prevented a Soviet submarine from launching a nuclear torpedo against U.S. Navy ships during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

“Arkhipov chose not to initiate nuclear warfare, which would have helped his country and hurt the United States. Instead, he focused on what would come out of the decision,” he said. “If he had turned the key to launch weapons like his fellow soldiers, it would have caused war and would have ended us as a civilization. He focused on the rights of all the people of the world and the good that would come out of it.”

Schank built a website to discuss the Mann Gulch Fire and the rights and responsibilities of smokejumpers.

“From the project, I discovered that it is important to learn from events like the Mann Gulch Fire,” Schank said. “The young smokejumpers from the Mann Gulch Fire jumped out of the plane and were then faced with a fire that was spreading 15 feet per second.”

Schank’s research delved into how the events of the fire unfolded and the critical choices made.

“The firefighters ran up the hill to get out of the fire, however the chief told them to stop and make a burn back. They either didn’t listen, or just didn’t hear his orders and continued to move higher up the hill. Those firefighters were killed. While the fire chief that had created the burnback and covered himself in a fire blanket survived,” he said.

“In my research I found that the right of a firefighter is to stay silent under command. The responsibility of a firefighter is to jump out of an aircraft to stop fire from spreading. The Mann Gulch Fire helped make the code of ethics which are the responsibilities of a smoke jumper,” he added.

Sorensen and Viera created a documentary titled “Strong Like a Girl: Title IX in America.” The film discusses not only the history of the law but also its impact on current female athletes.

“Both Kinsley and I are student athletes, so our project plays a lot into our lives,” Sorensen said. “We heard the theme for the contest and one of the big things we considered is that women in sports haven’t always had the same rights. Both of us had heard of Title IX, but didn’t know how it really impacted female athletes. We both wanted to learn more about it.”

For their project, the girls reached out to someone directly administering Title IX at a Division I university.

“As part of our project we interviewed the University of Nevada, Reno Athletic Director, Stephanie Rempe. She gave us very powerful insight on how Title IX is still impacting women’s sports today, including challenges they still face,” said Viera.

For the national competition, students will travel to the University of Maryland, stay in the dorms on campus, compete, and also visit the D.C. area.

“This is definitely an experience I’m looking forward to having. I look forward to seeing the historical landmarks and the basis of how our country is run,” Pilarski said.

“I think it’s pretty cool that we will see our capital and overall, it is just a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Schank added. “We’re staying in college dorms and it’s an honor to compete at the national level.”

Sorensen is looking forward to meeting people from across the country.

“It will be super fun to travel with my classmates,” she said. “We’re going to meet new people and students from all over the United States. I’m also excited to see all the different and unique projects that have been submitted.”

The students especially want to thank their teachers for their support and guidance.

“We really want to thank Mrs. Kelly Nott and Mrs. Tami McNeill for all their support and their help during the entire process,” Viera said. “They’ve dedicated a lot of their personal time in helping us prepare. We’re very proud to represent Oasis Academy and Fallon at the national level.”

The National History Day competition will be held June 8–12.