By Maureen Smith
WEST POINT – Corgan Elliot made history on her summer break. The Fifth Street Junior High seventh-grader competed at National History Day Competition in Washington, DC. Elliot, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish, where she is an altar server, won the state essay competition last year, making her eligible for the national finals. When she wrote the essay she was attending Central elementary School.
National History Day is non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, that operates an annual project-based contest for students in grades 6-12. Last year, the theme was conflict and compromise. Students could write an essay or complete another project to explore the theme.
Elliot wrote an essay about Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of the famed Anne of Green Gables books. She examined how Montgomery had to face conflicts and come up with compromises in her life as a orphan and a woman who wanted to be a professional.
“Montgomery was special because she had different labors and problems, and she had the courage to be a female author and take on those additional struggles. She also had the courage to be known as a female author. Some female authors of her time wrote books under a male name, hiding their identity of being a female author in order for their pieces to have a better chance of being published,” wrote Elliot in her essay.
Her mother, Penny, said while Corgan did not bring home a trophy, the trip to the national competition was well worth the effort. “The competition was great. Corgan met a lot of students from around the world. She competed against over 100 students from around the US and world from grades 5-8. She did not place, but it was a wonderful learning experience. She enjoyed meeting other students with her interest in history. She is already planning for this year’s competition,” wrote Penny Elliot in an email to Mississippi Catholic.
The theme for 2018-2019 is triumph and tragedy in history.