County youth dominate historical awards
Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
Weston County youth snagged several awards from the Wyoming State Historical Society.
Each year, the state society solicits nominations for several categories related to preserving Wyoming’s history, and every year the society’s Weston County chapter nominates local historians or projects for these awards.
This year, categories for older individuals were dominated by the rest of the state, but Weston County brought home 9 of 17 awards for youth in third through 12th grade.
In the young historian category, Newcastle brought home both first and second place, thanks to Kaden Curren and Talon Logan. Both Newcastle High School students were recognized for their local veterans’ research narrative completed in Jessica Troftgruben’s writing class.
Troftgruben created the project two years ago after the creation of the Students for Veterans program at the high schools in Weston County.
According to Troftgruben, students in the writing class had completed local history projects for years. When the Students for Veterans Program was created, she said, she thought the program was a great way for students to embrace the local veterans and connect with the men and woman in the community who have served.
“I thought about bringing that project into my English class and allowing the students to do their local history project on local veterans,” she said. “Part of the project is preserving the veteran’s story and making sure the community knows the veterans who have served for us, what they have been through and their story.”
Curren chose to highlight the life and story of local veteran Homer Hastings, taking home the first-place award for young historians in grades 9th through 12th, while Logan’s project on Doug Jorrey snagged the second-place award.
Other young historians in the community were also recognized.
Josie Smith was awarded third place in the third through fifth grade young historians category for her project on Chief Washakie and Chief Red Cloud.
Christine Swentesky brought home the first-place award in the third through fifth grade category for her Camp Jenney project, and Isabella Quinones received third place for her Native American Chiefs of Wyoming project. In the sixth-through-eighth-grade junior activities category, Chase Mills and Kailer Duarte of Upton were awarded third place for their project on the Teapot Dome Scandal.