Tyrone middle school student Chloe Makdad took first place in the junior division of the Pennsylvania State National History Day Competition with her individual historical paper  on the Women Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs, of World War II.  The first place finish at states qualifies Makdad for the  the national competition June 15th-19th at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.

Makdad is the first Tyrone student ever to advance to the national level of the History Day Competition in the 12+ years that the school has participated in the annual competition.

Makdad and twenty four other students in grades seven through nine qualified for the state competition at Millersville University on May 12th and 13th by finishing in the top three at the regional competition at IUP in April.

The theme for this year’s competition is “Rights and Responsibilities in History.”

“I originally wanted to do [my project] on Pi [3.14…], but I couldn’t relate it to the theme,” said Makdad on her project topic, “but I saw a documentary on the WASPs and figured, why not?”

Makdad and the other students began research in class at the beginning of the school year.  Later, the work was expanded to research done outside of class.

“I started with a documentary [on WASPs] and elaborated from there,” said Makdad about her research.

At the beginning of January, Tyrone held their annual school level competition for  Tyrone students participating in National History Day. Judges visited the school to review the projects, and decided which would advance to the regional competition.

Makdad recalled the hardest part of conducting her research and writing process was staying under the word limit.

“I had a lot to say and only 2,500 words,” said Makdad.

She also claimed, “In-text citations and footnotes aren’t fun!”

Students were judged on May 12th at states and were invited to join the awards ceremony held May 13th, where the winners of each category were announced.

“I wasn’t expecting to win,” said Makdad, “but I was excited about the whole thing.”

Students also enjoyed down time while on the trip, which included shopping at various outlets and swimming at the hotel pool.

“I enjoyed shopping at the outlets,” said Nathan Hormell, ninth grade student. “I also liked being able to ‘liberate’ the Pennsylvania sign.”

“I think that our students represented Tyrone School District very well,” said eighth grade history teacher, Mrs. Jessica Hetrick. “Each year we perform better than the last year. We competed against 788 other students. Making it to the state competition is a huge accomplishment in itself.”

“I don’t really know what to expect at nationals,” said Makdad, “but I’m curious to see how the judges respond to my revisions… There will definitely be a high level of competition.”