
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994                   TAG: 9405280002
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VALLEY STUDENTS BRING HOME VA. HISTORY DAY HONORS

Two students from Pulaski Middle School and one from Macy McClaugherty School won second-place awards in the Virginia History Day competition in Charlottesville. The three will go on to the national competition June 12-16 at the University of Maryland.

Conor Quinlan, who is in the eighth grade at Pulaski Middle School, took his award in the historical papers category, writing on ``The German Peasant War.'' Josh Stoker, a seventh-grader at Pulaski, placed in individual projects for a model and project titled ``Coal Mining: Working Underground.''

Russ Johnston, a sixth-grader from Macy McClaugherty, placed second for his slide presentation on "Boundary of Freedom: Escape on the Underground Railroad."

Quinlan and Stoker were among 18 students from Pulaski Middle School to compete, said Bill Atwood, who teaches history and was the school's sponsoring teacher for the competition.

Only 14 Virginia students go to National History Day competition, Atwood said, so it is unusual to have two from a single school. Johnston is the only pupil from Macy McClaugherty to advance to nationals.

The students competed first at their school in March, at Virginia Tech in April in a district covering 22 school systems from the New River Valley east to Rockbridge, Botetourt, Roanoke, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties.

The theme of this year's competition was ``Geography in History: People ... Places ... Time ...''

Quinlan's brother, Aaron, now at the College of William & Mary, also went to national History Day competition when he was in the eighth grade at Pulaski Middle School.

Quinlan said he started his project with the Reformation, but narrowed it down when he and his teacher decided he needed to be more specific.

Stoker said he had considered basing his model on salt mining, since Saltville is located in Southwest Virginia, but little reference information was available. He switched to mining in general and found the other extreme.

``There were about 5,000 books on it,'' he said. ``So we cut it down to coal mining and that got a little more reasonable.''

Johnston won first place at the national competition last year for his slide presentation on the telegraph. He hopes his presentation on the underground railroad will go over as well this year.

"I wasn't cocky," at the state competition, Johnston said, "but you have to show a little confidence."

by CNB