2 win bids to national History Day contest

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Two Brown County students won first place at the Indiana National History Day competition and will compete in Washington, D.C., June 14-18 in the national competition.

Chloee Robison, a seventh-grader, won first place in the individual exhibit category with her project titled “Nellie Bly: Pioneer of Investigative Journalism.”

Elisabeth Huls, a sophomore, won first place with her historical paper, “Albion Fellows Bacon.”

Only the top two entries from each category move on to nationals.

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Brown County sent 17 junior high school and 12 high school students to compete against students statewide at the state National History Day competition April 25.

Seventh-graders Asa Sage and Eli Straw-Thrasher took third place in the group exhibit category with their project, “Nikola Tesla: The Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived.”

Though they are not eligible to compete at nationals, several elementary students also placed at state.

Chase Austin of Van Buren Elementary School won first place and Hadley Gradolf of Sprunica Elementary took third place in youth individual website.

Brock Bragg of Sprunica took first in youth individual performance.

Savannah Oden, Londyn Koester and Shelly Johnson of Sprunica won second in youth group performance.

Neena Whitlow and Maya Karl of Brown County Intermediate School won first in youth group website.

Zoe Cox and Audrey Harder of Sprunica won first in youth group documentary.

Students presented on a wide variety of historical topics under the theme “Leadership and Legacy” through documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances and websites.

History Day encourages students to engage in research and to interpret resources on topics ranging from family to world history.

Emily Pettijohn and Alecia Adams, the junior high and high school National History Day coordinators, said they are proud of all participants’ efforts.

“It’s great to see their enthusiasm for their projects and learning history. These students represented Brown County at the state level extremely well. Brown County has so much to be proud of,” Adams said.

ISSMA band, choir contest results

Brown County Junior High School intermediate band students competed in the Indiana State School Music Association organizational band contest at Columbus East High School on April 11. They performed three pieces for the judges and received a gold rating.

Band director Amy Smith said, “I am very proud of their hard work and effort this year. The self-discipline, teamwork, focus and creative expression gained through participating in the performing arts will serve our students well throughout their life.”

The Brown County High School Band competed in the ISSMA band organizational contest at Columbus North High School on April 24. The Concert Band and the Wind Ensemble competed. The Concert Band came away with a gold rating for performance and a silver rating for sight-reading. The Wind Ensemble received a silver rating in performance and the sight-reading portion.

Band director Angleo Anton said the Wind Ensemble “competed with a very difficult program of music.”

About both bands, he said, “I am very proud of these students and of their work ethic at every performance. They represented our schools and community well once again.”

At the ISSMA organizational competition at Columbus East High School on April 25, BCHS had two vocal ensembles participating: Concert Choir (an auditioned women’s choir) and Varsity Choir (an auditioned mixed-gender ensemble).

Concert Choir competed as a Group III ensemble and received a gold rating for performance and a silver rating for sight-reading.

Varsity Choir competed as a Group II ensemble and received a unanimous gold rating from all three judges as well as a gold rating for sight-reading. The choir director was told that the Varsity Choir was the best sight-reading the room monitor had heard all day.

Both groups received compliments from the judges for uniqueness of their performance repertoire. Concert Choir performed a piece that featured plastic bags as a percussion instrument, and Varsity Choir performed a folk song in Swedish.

According to choir director Kristi Billings, “These students demonstrate daily that choir … requires high levels of musical intelligence, literacy and skill, as well as the ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively with others.”

Angelica Nevins

BLOOMINGTON — Brown County High School graduate Angelica Nevins will earn a master’s degree in social work from Indiana University this month.

She graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2014 and was accepted into the accelerated master’s program, allowing her to finish grad school in one year at the age of 23, said her mother, Charlotte Nevins.

Angelica will begin her career at InWell (Integrative Wellness) in Zionsville as a school-based therapist, working with students in all grades, from prekindergarten to high school seniors.

She worked her way through much of college and also participated in AmeriCorps. Angelica received scholarships from Tri Kappa, Psi Iota Xi, Steve and Cathy Junken, James A. Voland and the Bruce Gregory Temple Memorial Fund and was Rotary Student of the Year.

Dena Dunn

FRANKLIN — Franklin College’s chapter of the international honor society of psychology, Psi Chi, inducted five new members March 15. One of them was Dena Dunn, daughter of Mike and Valerie Dunn of Nashville.

Inducted students become lifelong members of Psi Chi. Eligible students must have declared a major or minor in psychology, be a second semester sophomore, have completed nine credit hours in psychology courses, have a 3.0 grade-point average and be in the top 35 percent of the class.

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