Bill Mundell, who has been teaching more than 20 years, knows when he's got a good student. When three of his eighth-graders received top honors in the Georgia Humanities Council's National History Day regional contest, Mundell wasn't surprised.
"These are very bright students to accomplish such complex work," the Episcopal Day School history teacher said. "I'd put these three kids up against any kids in any school in the state."
Because the three pupils - Madeline Edwards, Miller Murray and Francis Medina - won the regional level of competition, they actually did end up against their peers in the state. About 5,000 middle and high school pupils in Georgia entered the contest. There were nine regions in the first level, with the Augusta area students' entries judged by history professors at Augusta State University. The winners of each region then advanced to the state level, which was judged at Mercer University.
Madeline won first place in the state with her essay The Treaty of Versailles, and Miller won second place with The Sunningdale Agreement.
"I don't choose their topics for them," Mundell said. "If the kids choose what they want to learn, then they do a much better job of learning it."
Essays had to be 2,500 words with footnotes, and follow the Humanities Council's theme of Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences.
Mundell gives the assignment to the entire eighth grade every year.
"Middle school is a great place to experience difficult assignments and the possibility of failure," he said. "Plus, the grade is not final in my class. They can choose to rewrite it. It's a learning experience."
Most pupils, including Madeline and Miller, had difficulty grasping the enormity of the project and procrastinated. "I introduced the topic before December vacation with the misguided hope that they'd work on it over the vacation rather than frantically working on it in January before it's due," Mundell said.
Once she started, Madeline said the biggest challenge for her was citing all the references. Although the Internet is allowed as a reference, the judges prefer not to see it used, and Wikipedia cannot be used at all, Mundell said.
"I stayed up past 11 the night before it was due trying to finish it,' Madeline said. "I thought it was bad because I finished it at the last second. So, I was surprised I won."
The complexity of Miller's topic caused him to almost miss his deadline. The Sunningdale Agreement was established in the early 1970s to balance power among governmental regions of Ireland. Miller chose the topic because his family is of Irish descent. Miller read books on Ireland during his research.
"Miller is the type that doesn't stop researching until he knows everything," Mundell said. "He was still looking for clarity when it was time to turn it in. But, he handled it well and turned in a good paper."
Miller will represent Georgia at the national level in June in Washington, D.C., where he will have to defend his paper in an interview with judges at the University of Maryland. Although she qualified for nationals, Madeline will not go because she has a conflict in her schedule.
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