As Bradley Curtis explained how thankful for the award he was, he picked up his medal and proudly said this was what he had to show for his hard work.
Bradley’s mom Cathy Curtis interjected for a second.
“I actually don’t think he knows this yet, but he also received $250,” she said.
Bradley’s face lit up.
“Well that works,” he said with a grin. “I haven’t been here the last few days. Guess I am out of the loop.”
A humble 13-year-old, clean cut and well spoken, Bradley placed third in the individual paper category at the National History Day competition in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.
Bradley was one of nine Armstrong Middle School students to travel to the competition that included of 2,800 high school and junior high students from across the country. He was the only one from Mississippi to place on the national level.
His eight-page research paper, which he has been working on since last August, is titled, “William Wilberforce: Reform of the Slave Trade,” and documents the Englishman’s struggle to abolish slavery in the West Indies during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Bradley said he was initially uncertain about the topic he wanted to pursue. But he remember a movie he had seen a couple of years earlier and it seemed to be well-suited to the theme of the competition — Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.
“There was a movie called Amazing Grace, and I really liked it,” Bradley said. “It kind of astounded me that even with all he went through he still accomplished his goals. When I started thinking about the theme, it really just kind of fit.”
According to their website, over half a million kids from across the country compete in the National History Day program each year. The kids choose a historical topic related to an annual theme, then conduct extensive research. They must present their topics in either a paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary or a website. The competition is split into two divisions, junior and senior, and then into one of the five categories.
Though he said he was confident in the work he had done, he was still intimidated when he arrived in Washington.
“The competition seemed pretty stiff,” he admitted. “When I got there, I believed in my paper, and I knew I had done everything I could do to prepare it for national competition, but you still just don’t know. It was my first year doing this so I didn’t know what my chances were at all, really.”
Cathy said she believed in her son and his abilities, but the sheer number of participants put her in damage-control mode before the award ceremony.
“I was saying to him on Thursday, ‘this is incredible, you have already done so much, everyone here is a winner'” Cathy said. “And it really is true everyone there really was, but still…”
She said Bradley had turned his paper in about a month before the national competition and was interviewed one-on-one about it the first day they arrived, but after that, they had no clue who had made it to the final stage.
“After Monday, no one knew who advanced. For the final round they just look at the product itself,” she said. “That’s why we were so shocked when they called his name, because we were clue-less. We had no idea.”
Bradley did much of his primary research at the Mississippi State University library, but he also did research at one of two research libraries in the country focusing on African American history, Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta. He also received some material from Wilberforce University in Ohio.
This year’s competition started at a local level, and then proceeded to the state level where Bradley’s paper was awarded Best in Show. After the state competition, Bradley said he was assigned a mentor, Ryan Semmes, who works in the MSU library.
Semmes assisted Bradley with obtaining many of the primary sources he needed at the library, and put Bradley in touch with noted MSU professor of history emeritus John Marszalek, who gave him suggestions on his paper after the state competition.
Cathy praised the community for the support they gave all the kids as they prepared to go to Washington.
“We are so appreciative of the opportunity, it wouldn’t have happened without the school, the Starkville Public Education Foundation,” she said “There were people like the Armstrong PTA gave him a $500 donation, Foundation for Public Education gave him $500, the School Board stepped up and paid a third of the cost. It’s just huge. Not to be overly dramatic but I think when he is older and looks back he will see this as a real turning point.”
For all his success, Bradley isn’t necessarily considering a career as a historian.
“I don’t really know right now,” he said “I think it’s really good to study the triumphs and defeats of people in the past because it really teaches you things, and I think I will continue to learn from history, but career-wise, I have absolutely no idea.”
He has plenty of time to figure that out.
The other Armstrong students who participated in the national competition were Cici Zhang, Hannah King, William Paul Ellis, Jenny Kwon, Michelle Li, Nathaniel Methvin, Alessandro Otondo and Joy Carino.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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